I am the storm
by Urdnot Goat
Summary: Kidnapped soon after her move to Seattle, Max is thrown into a life of pain and abuse. Years later and free from her personal quest for vengeance, she finds herself near breaking point and hopes to find that 'young Max' that was lost so long ago. Luckily for her, Arcadia bay's resident punk princess is the foremost expert on all things Max.
1. Snippets of a nightmare

**A/N : May 2019 - Minor fixes to spelling and grammar.**

 **I have had this idea in my head for a while now, most likely inspired by the sheer number of fics i read. Thought i'd put my ideas to paper and see what you people think, feel free to let me know what's right, what's wrong and what i should do better, writing has always been something i enjoy but sadly, something i never actually had any education in.**

 **I suppose i should put a disclaimer here that there are implied dark and otherwise adult themes in this story, nothing extremely graphic but enough that i know i should keep the rating at M**

* * *

Snippets of a nightmare

Or

Curiosity kidnapped the cat

Seattle, December 2008

 _'Hold still Mr. Owl!'_

'Mr. Owl' was being difficult. They were a rare sight for Max, or at least she couldn't recall noticing them, what with their propensity for perching out of sight and creepily observing everything. Unfortunately, this particular owl was not being very accommodating for the young photographer; perched up on the sign post as it was, it would have been a perfect addition to her 'Natural cities' assignment, however the bird refused to sit still instead opting to shuffle back and forth all the while staring right at her as if teasing her.

It was coming to the end of the year and school was wrapping up for the Christmas break, just one more assignment for one more class (a class she enjoyed no less!) and she would finally be free. Free to do what? She didn't quite know yet, but she knew sooner or later she would have to get around to apologizing to Chloe for her months of silence. She hadn't meant to leave it this long, but she was a serial procrastinator by nature and that, combined with her inability to articulate her feelings, led to many deleted message attempts and scrunched up letters.

 _'What would I say to her?'_ Max thought as she found herself zoning out into a familiar internal debate. ' _Oh, hey Chloe, I'm sorry William is gone, I'm sorry I had to move to stupid Seattle and I'm sorry I'm a terrible person who leaves her best friend alone when she needs people the most but hey! You're still the first and last thing in my head every day because I maybe sorta still have this little huge crush on you and please don't hate me for making this weird'._

"Pah!" she scoffed exasperatedly as she lashed out with her foot to strike a cluster of loose stones on the footpath only to throw her hands up in defeat as the same stones struck the post of the street sign and frightened the Owl into flight, leaving her alone on the outskirts of the Industrial zone.

 _'Good one, dope'_ She chided herself.

She sighed to herself once more before she turned around to leave, or rather she would have if a brilliant flash of blue hadn't caught her eye. Her head snapped back to the blue blur to find the strangest butterfly she had ever seen fluttering gracefully in the air, it's wings a deep metallic blue she had never seen on any animal before.

Max knew she had to capture it on film.

As if it had gotten the memo from Mr. Owl and was as equally invested in mocking her, the insect chose that moment to make its escape leaving Max scrambling along attempting to follow while seeking the best angle to frame it. Had she been less passionate about photography she may have noticed herself being led further into the industrial zone, she may have noticed the lack of cars or people milling about, she most certainly would have had second thoughts about following the evasive bug into a dingy alleyway and despite her clumsy nature, she may have even avoided having her bag hook a stray cable jutting from one of the tall piles of trash and bringing it down of top of her.

"Ooooow" she groaned as tears sprang to her eyes in response to the sharp pains across her arm and head. Carefully she disentangled herself from the rusty wires, pipes and bags of trash, lifting her hand to her head, she tentatively touched at her head before flinching away, her hand came away red with blood.

 _'Oh, dog'_ She thought to herself seeing the red on her fingers and quickly dropped her bag only to hiss in pain as it passed over other cuts on her arm. ' _Mom is gonna be so mad'._

A quick rummage through her bag revealed that she had in fact neglected to bring any tissues with her today and to add insult to injury, she had succeeded in smearing red stains all over her bag. She could already hear her mother's lecture and her dads muffled laugher. Quickly, she placed her camera in her bag to eliminate the temptation to take any more shots and prepared to leave.

Unfortunately, Max was a curious girl, some had even used the term 'nosy' when referring to her, her mother had warned her that she needed to be more careful, curiosity killed the cat after all, nevertheless the same sense of curiosity prevented her from picking up her bag and leaving as she caught a faint sound emanating from some nearby. It didn't take long before the sounds led her to a small nearby window only a few inches above ground level, the window was far too caked with dirt and other unidentifiable substances to see through, but the muffled sound was definitely coming from inside.

"H-Hello?" She called out, kneeling down and tapping on the glass. "Is someone there?"

A sudden cacophony of muffled screaming surprised Max and she immediately pulled away, a sudden sense of dread filled her stomach as her hand shot down to her pocket in search of her phone only to remember that it was still in her bag.

The sense of dread only intensified as she heard the crunch of footsteps behind her, she slowly turned her trembling head around to see a large man leering down at her with a cruel grin stretching his pockmarked face.

"Hello darling."

* * *

 **Arcadia bay**

Another day, another late shift.

If nothing else, Joyce's life had at least fallen into some form of routine which was, according to the previously unknown psychology 'experts' in her family, a sign she was finally moving on with her life. To say the past few months had been difficult would be an understatement somewhat similar to referring to the first world war as a disagreement between nations or 9/11 as a bad business day, and Joyce was willing to take any sign that life was improving, however as she entered the lounge she spotted an important part of her life that was not making any progress.

"Chloe, it's 2 in the morning, you need to go to bed."

The girl in question barely acknowledged her, a brief glance with empty eyes the only indication Joyce had been heard at all. William's death had hit both of them hard, Joyce had lost her childhood sweetheart, the man who had convinced her to throw caution into the wind and run from their small Texas town and had made her happier than she had ever thought possible but Chloe, she had lost her idol, the man she looked up to above all and to make matters worse, it was only the beginning of the one-two combo that ended with the Caulfields moving to Seattle, depriving her of her best friend.

"I'm not tired." Came the eventual reply as she continued to stare unseeingly at the television, _'I can't sleep'_ , was the message Joyce read in between. God knew she was having enough trouble in that department.

With a sigh Joyce leaned over the back of the couch to embrace her daughter, frowning sadly at Chloe's slight flinch at the contact. "Don't you stay up too late now ya hear? You have bags under your eyes that Tim Burton would be proud of."

Another reply from Chloe by way of a small nod and Joyce made her way to bed, not even bothering to shower, she drifted off the moment her head hit the pillow.

Only to be awakened what seemed only a few minutes later.

Joyce groaned into her pillow as her accursed phone refused to stop ringing, a blind hand fumbling across her nightstand eventually found her phone and her tired eyes adjusted to the near blinding light that shined down on her as the blurs on the screen slowly formed more coherent symbols.

 _'6:14 Am, At least I got some rest'_ She thought groggily before the rest of the screen cleared up. _'Vanessa? Why would you possibly be calling at this hour?'_

"Vanessa, what's going on darling?" She croaked out. Vanessa was not the type to simply accost people during the wee hours of the morning.

"Joyce? Oh, thank god!" Vanessa's breathless voice was practically dripping with stress, a knot of tension began to form in Joyce's stomach. "Please, has Max contacted you or Chloe? Have you heard from her at all?"

And just like that, adrenaline surged through her system, driving her to her feet. "No, nothing dear, Chloe would have definitely said something if she had." She paused, realizing she had begun pacing the room. "Vanessa, talk to me, what's happened?"

The floodgates opened, and Joyce could only stand shocked as her friend sobbed out the story. Max, out working on her photography assignment never came home. A full night of searching both with the police and with friends, the desperate hope that she had ran away back to Arcadia bay as she had threatened a few times before. Some attempts at reassuring words and a promise to report any word or sign of Max later and Joyce found herself downstairs staring down at her daughter, hand outstretched to wake her.

The dry tear tracks on Chloe's face stopped her cold. She already had so much on her plate, her father's death and the Caulfields' absence was already taking its toll on her. How much more could her little girl take before she broke completely?

She pulled back her hand and stepped away. If Max was found soon then it wouldn't be worth worrying her daughter over, and if the worst came to past then she could tell her then.

As she made her way back to bed, she couldn't help thinking that this decision would come back to haunt her.

* * *

 **Croatia, June 2009**

She was coming down.

It was a familiar, bitter-sweet sensation. On one hand she could feel her mind clearing up, her ability to hold a train of thought returning, but on the other hand… it meant that she was still alive, in this nightmare of an existence. No sweet release in an overdose for her, no floating away on a cloud as she faded from life. No, it meant more of the same, more cruel men and women to use her, more itching as she slowly fell into withdrawal over the coming days, craving the very drugs used to keep her and the rest of the girls docile and willing.

In truth, Max had long since given up. Weeks of cramped travel in dark boxes with only flashes of light for her deprived eyes had turned into even more weeks of being passed from group to group, being propped up like a prized bull to be sold over and over again by disgusting low-lives and elegantly dressed businessmen alike. Some girls would end up in sweatshops, some in drug plantation fields, Max thought they were lucky. Small, 'pretty things' like her always ended up as playthings for sick men.

Max flinched as a slim ray of sunshine came through her little window with a sniper's precision into her eyes and rolled over to the other side of her mattress, or at least she tried to, one could only roll so far when one was bound to the floor by one's ankle. A slight fluttering of wings and flashes of metallic blue drew Max from her self-pitying thoughts as a familiar sight came to rest on her outstretched fingers, the butterfly turned, it's wings continuing to slowly lower and raise.

Max's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, the windows in this room were closed, as was the door. _'How did I not notice you before?'._ She continued to stare into its black eyes for minutes before she felt an irrational wave of anger strike her. It couldn't be the same butterfly and it could not have possibly known or cared about leading her to her kidnappers, but rational thought was becoming an ever-scarcer resource. Rage the likes of which she would not have been able to fathom mere months ago gripped her. Every cruel laugh and smile flashed across her vision, every striking blow and cutting word sounded in her ears. _'How dare you come here!'_ The thought came barging into her head from the deep well of bitterness she had never even known existed. _'You brought me here! This is your fault!'._

As if sensing the imminent danger, the strange insect took flight only making two or so inches before her hand snapped upwards to catch it in a clenched fist, the act would have surprised Max if it were not for the months of suppressed emotion coursing through her system. She hissed as she brought her hand down on the floor next to her mattress.

She expected a slight sting from striking the ground so hard, she expected a sight sticky feeling from the bugs broken body, however, she was not expecting her body to seize up as if struck by lightning nor the burning sensation in her hand as if someone hand plunged it into hot coals and she was definitely not expecting the world to shudder and freeze around her as if someone had hit 'pause' on the galactic tape.

Then the pain was gone, leaving her lying breathless as the grey highlights faded from view. Tentatively, Max lifted her hand to find no trace whatsoever of the butterfly, no dark smear, nothing.

 _'The drugs have finally gotten to you Max'._ A voice whispered in her mind.

Any impromptu argument with herself was cut off as the door to her room was thrown open to reveal a balding overweight man leering down at her. The man moved quickly, eager to get what he came for and had already removed his belt by the time he reached the foot of the mattress, said belt landing with an odd metallic thump.

"You going to give me a good time girl, yes?" He grunted as he knelt over her throwing one of her legs aside.

Her answer shocked both of them as Long, untrimmed nails raked down the side of his face and a thrashing knee swept up to strike him in the ribs, the attack was answered by a wicked backhand that snapped her head to the side leaving her bleeding from where his ring has cut open her brow.

His groping hands pulled her from her dazed state and she could hear him muttering about how he liked girls with a little fight. Struggle as she might, she found no way to get any advantage, he was bigger and stronger and simply battered aside any attack she made. Another backhand a not a minute later announced the end of his patience and she distantly felt his hands tearing at her flimsy excuse for shorts.

Then, through teary eyes she saw her chance. Her struggling had gotten her beaten and bruised, but it had also gotten her thrown half off her mattress, close enough to his discarded belt to see the gleaming hilt of a knife. Quickly she scrambled to undo the leather catch on the sheath only for it to elude her first attempt, her second attempt was successful only in alerting her assailant to her efforts, desperate, she lunged backwards in a final attempt.

The catch popped free.

She drew the knife, quickly stabbing towards her attacker.

A painfully tight grip encircled her wrist, stopping the knife in mid-air, a split second later his fist struck her in the face, once, twice. His furious gaze met her own as he drew his fist back for a third strike, Max threw up her hand in a desperate attempt to stall him, as if her will alone could make him stop.

To her shock, his fist stopped dead in its tracks, in fact everything stopped. Max stared at her outstretched hand, her skin was almost ethereal, and she could faintly see the room through her arm, but more, she could feel the world around her…she could feel it straining to pull away from her. So she pulled back.

Perhaps not the best term but it was the best she would ever come up with to describe the sensation that comes with plucking at the strings of time and space. To her astonishment, the man seemed to play in reverse, his arms lashing outwards in awkward movements until he scrambled back to the edge of the mattress, and leapt to his feet, the belt jumping by its own volition into his hands.

And then he was gone. She felt the backwards flow of time cease and suddenly everything resumed as normal. Unfortunately, Max had no time to process this as the door flung open once more to revel the same disgusting man smiling that same sick smile. A smile that turned into a look of shock as he approached, leaving Max confused. 'Does he remember what happened?'

"Where did you get that-That's my knife!" he cried, shooting towards her only to be stopped dead once more as she reached out to grasp time and pull it back once more.

'I still have his knife!' She exclaimed to herself and she looked at her prize. It was a beautifully made knife, the pommel was styled after an eagle's head and the guard was made to resemble eagle's wings, the blade was well polished and the black stained inscription stood out proudly 'Blut und Ehre', Max had no clue what it meant but considering the mad who owned it, it was probably nothing good.

Knowing she was running out of time; she jammed the knife as far under the mattress as she could while still being able to draw it before laying down and feigning a drugged stupor. A few seconds later the door was opened for a third time, the same leering man making his way into the room, throwing his belt aside with the same casual arrogance, completely unaware of his missing blade, unaware of it until he took his position over her.

With the man so unaware of the present danger it was almost too easy, the man leaned down to growl his opening line, his breath hot and foul on her face, she pulled the knife and he offered no resistance as she plunged it home into his neck.

The effect was instant, his eyes widened with shock as he collapsed to his side, in a flash Max straddled him smacking away his weakening attempts to strike her. A pleading, desperate gaze met her own, begging for mercy, for life. She had seen the same desperation in the faces of every girl she had traveled with, been sold alongside, she knew she had worn the same look herself.

Like the last strand in a fraying rope, she snapped.

A small pull and the blade tore free from his neck in a spray of blood, with a piercing scream of rage she brought the knife down into his chest again and again, heedless of the man's gurgling cries. The man's face shifted in her mind's eye, the features warping to take the form of the people that had hurt her, the changes only serving to feed her anger.

Eventually she staggered to her feet leaving the mutilated body beneath her, she didn't know how or why she had this power and she didn't know for how long, but she knew that this was her only chance at escape.

 **5 days later…**

The escape could have gone better.

If Max was completely honest with herself, it was longer than she ever thought she would last. It didn't take long for the complex to be shut down, but that was okay, Max doubted she would have made it out in broad daylight anyway. Her decision to hide out in ventilation shafts and store rooms worked for three days.

She learned a lot in those three days, her powers were most likely here to stay, it hurt a lot to keep rewinding time, too much and she would start to bleed from her nose and if she didn't stop, she would face crippling headaches that would leave her curled up and helpless. She only made that mistake once. She learned that she was potentially the world's best up and coming thief, or at least the best one in the complex, hiding was a skill she had practiced for years with Chloe, combined with her rewind, she moved near freely through the compound.

Unfortunately, she couldn't rewind time with a few thousand volts going through her as she discovered during her attempt to escape the compound and by the time she awakened, she was trapped once more. This time she knew they wanted to break her fully, she along with every other girl was shown this place as a threat, if anyone misbehaved then they would be thrown in the hole, a remodeled bunker of sorts. Needless to say, stabbing a 'customer' a few dozen times constituted as 'misbehaving' and this was now the second day by her count that she had been locked in here.

But she didn't mind too much. It felt safe in there, especially in light of the panicked shouting she could hear from outside. She found herself smiling as the sound of her captors beating against the bunker door echoed around her, there was only one key card and it was currently propped tauntingly against the viewing port window, its previous owner lay staring unblinkingly at the ceiling, a pencil jutting from his neck. The possibilities of her rewind seemed endless.

Her smile only grew wider as the panicked shouting was drowned out by roaring winds and the none too far crash of thunder. A storm had come for them, and if what she was hearing was any indication, it was a big one.

* * *

 **Arcadia bay, September 2012**

 _… Sicily is the latest victim in a long list of attacks believed to be perpetrated by the terror group known as Oluja, it marks the second attack this year and the fifth attack of this magnitude since the group came into existence in late 2009. As of now there are 23 confirmed casualties and an estimated twelve million Euros in damages. Details are sparse but inside sources claim that the attack on the Porto Franco dock was connected to the recent murders of Davide Rossi and Andre Bianchi, two Assessori or regional governors. What the connection is between these events remains uncertain…_

Rachel snorted. Loudly.

"What's that?" Chloe asked as she lethargically raised her from her pillow to see Rachel staring contemptuously at the TV.

"It's not rocket science; half the internet has figured it out by now." Rachel replied before taking another drag on her joint. "S'just none of them got the stones to come out and say it."

"Context, Rachel. Gimme some." Chloe chuckled as she rolled to the floor beside her friend.

Rachel cocked an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Do you ever watch the news, or anything on the internet for that matter?"

"Does Conan O'Brian and porn count?"

Rachel just cradled her head in one hand and groaned. "You heard about those bombings and assassinations in Europe? Ya know, the ports all getting blown up and politicians getting whacked?"

"What? No! Shit sounds dope!" Chloe began before her brain caught up with her mouth. "I mean, apart from people dying and shit." She concluded lamely.

"Don't feel sorry for them, Wikileaks has put out a shit ton of stuff about how they were involved in smuggling drugs, guns and slaves across Europe." Rachel said waving her hand dismissively. "There's a whole bunch of places online talking about those ports being key smuggling points. But of course, no one's going to admit it."

"Sounds like you're jumping on the conspiracy bandwagon a little there Rach." Chloe laughed. "The weed's making you paranoid."

"Oh, shut up." Rachel retorted, "I handle my shit better than you."

"Lies!" Chloe crowed.

"You know it's true! But seriously, that fucking mega storm tears through Greece up to Croatia, a whole bunch of people get busted during the cleanup for human trafficking and suddenly there's a group calling themselves 'Oluja' out there; which by the way, is Croatian for 'The Storm'" Rachel ranted, miming air-quotes. "Then, people accused of being part of the trafficking ring wind up dead all over the place, a whole bunch of shit gets blown up and they're all like: 'Whatever the connection is between these events is uncertain'…It's so stupid".

"Damn, girl." Chole eventually stated. "I still got that tinfoil hat in the cupboard if you -" Chloe started before a pouncing Rachel interrupted.

A minute later the pair collapsed in giggles, with Rachel's head uncomfortably pressed against a metal box jutting slightly from under the bed. Curious, she decided a casual snoop was in order and as inconspicuously as possible she sat and opened the box, careful to keep her body between Chloe and her box.

The contents were a little disappointing, Rachel had half expected Dirty magazines or a secret stash of weed but all she could see was a cd case and a thick stack of photos. Rachel couldn't contain her squeal of delight as she realized the photos were of a young Chloe, her friend rarely talked about her childhood apart from brief snappy comments about her past friend-

"Max." She breathed as she found a photo of the young blonde Chloe grinning widely with her arms around a smaller brunette, they were both dressed in surprisingly good pirate costumes. It was the first picture of Chloe's elusive friend she had ever seen.

"What?" Chloe asked before leaping over to snatch the box away. "Dude, what the fuck?"

"So, this is the girl who's missing in action?" Rachel asked, choosing to ignore the fact she was caught snooping red-handed. It was a tactic that worked well thus far with Chloe.

"Hmmph. Yea, that's her."

"I mean, i don't get it."

Chloe's eyes blinked in surprise. "Don't get what?"

"Dude? There's a million photos in here! Look, she doesn't even look old enough to be in school in that one, and one day she just cuts you off?" She exclaimed, pointing at one particular photo her mother took to celebrate her 'first friend'.

"Yeah. I know." Chloe replied defensively.

"But, why?"

"I don't know! She just stopped replying after a few months, probably after she found new friends." Chloe snapped.

"We should call her!" Rachel declared.

"The fuck? Are you high? I mean you are, but are you serious?!"

"Yes, I'm serious! You need answers!"

Chloe raised a brow.

"Well, and I want to know too."

Chloe had promised herself years ago that she wouldn't be the first to call, she had been the one trying for so long after all, however those promises were no match for the near magical power Rachel had over her friend and so five minutes later Chloe found herself watching her phone dial max's number with shaking hands.

The number was disconnected.

Chloe didn't know what she expected, but the failed call cut her deeper than she cared to admit. Rachel however, was one step ahead.

"Caulfield, right?" Rachel asked, scrolling across her phone.

"Yeah, why?"

"Ryan and Vanessa?"

"Yes, why-wait, how'd you know that?" Chloe questioned with wide eyes.

"I remember you mentioning her dads name was Ryan. Doesn't seem to be too common a name." She stated before triumphantly holding out her phone for Chloe to see. "Ta-da! Home number, they're old fashioned as fuck."

"Yeah." Chloe replied, unsure. "They always were, I can't talk though, we still got a home phone too."

After half a minute of internal debate, Chloe punched the number in and listened.

"Hello, who's there?" Came Ryan's unmistakable voice, and Chloe found herself momentarily unable to reply. The years had made his voice noticeably gruffer; Ryan and her dad had always spoken softly. 'Probably thinks I'm trying to sell something'

"You there?" Ryan's voice question again.

"H-Hey Ryan," Chloe began, desperately trying to get moisture back into her mouth. "It's Chloe."

"Chloe Price?" Ryan asked, surprise evident in his voice.

"Yeah."

"Well I'll be damned...it's good to hear from you Chloe."

"It's good to talk to you too...I-I missed you guys." She Said before steeling herself, "Could I talk to Max?"

The line went silent. The seconds counted by and a tense knot began to form in her stomach.

"Chloe…Is this...is this some sort of joke?" Ryan's voice carried a harsh note Chloe had never heard before.

"What? No! I just- I just wanted to… to ask why she stopped talking to me." Chloe finished meekly.

"Wait. You don't- how?" Ryan replied, before his voice turned to a mutter. "Joyce was the first person we called."

"What do you mean?" Chloe was beginning to feel ill. It must have shown on her face because Rachel was looking at her with a concerned expression.

"Chloe…I'm…" His voice paused for a moment and Chloe heard a muffled 'fuck' followed by a thump. "Max is…Max has been gone for almost four years now."

Seconds stretched to minutes as Chloe attempted to process it all.

"Chloe?"

"Gone?" She repeated, her voice a mere whisper.

"She's gone Chloe, I'm so sorry, we called Joyce, I th-"

Whatever he was saying was lost as the phone slipped through nerveless fingers, Ryan's voice still faintly audible from the floor. Her knees buckled and Rachel barely caught her before she hit the carpet.

"Chloe? Chloe talk to me." Rachel begged as Chloe buried her face in her neck and began to weep.

"She's- She's" The girl spluttered as sobs Wracked her frame, her cries louder than Rachel had ever heard from anyone, louder even then her own when Chloe had broken the news of her father's lies and plots to keep her mother away. She couldn't do anything but rock slowly back and forth as the minutes dragged on whispering 'It'll be ok' in the vain hope that either of them would believe it.

"Girls! What is going on here?" Came Joyce's voice as she rushed into the room still in her work uniform.

"Mrs. Madsen, I don't think you sh-" Rachel began before Chloe all but hurled her off to face her mother.

"YOU!" She shrieked, throwing her beanie to the ground, her fist clenched at her side, her tear-streaked face a mask of pure fury.

"Honey, what's-"

"YOU KNEW!" Chloe shouted over her in accusation and Joyce's face turned pale.

"FOUR FUCKING YEARS! AND YOU SAID NOTHING!" Rachel rushed up to grab her friend as she stormed towards her mother.

"Chloe, please, I-" Joyce attempted to start, hands upraised in a calming gesture.

"SHE'S DEAD! YOU LIED TO ME FOR FOUR FUCKING YEARS!" Rachels attempts to hold her were in vain, there was no holding the taller girl back.

"YOU LET ME HATE HER!" Chloe screamed as she shoved her mother into the wall, only quick thinking from Rachel stopped the following slap and she jumped up and used her whole body to force her arm away.

"YOU BITCH, I FUCKING HATE YOU!" Chloe continued to scream as Rachel tugged her away from her shaking mother.

The screeching continued until the door closed, then as if a switch was flipped Chloe tore her arm free and staggered over to her rubbish-bin before hurling up the contents of her stomach, the sick feeling she had during the call finally catching up to her.

Rachel held her as she dissolved back into sobs and incoherent wailing. For the first time in years, Rachel had no idea what to do.

* * *

 **Greece, November 2012**

Andrej Damjanac was not a happy man today. Granted, even at the best of times he would scarcely be described as friendly but at the current moment he was positively smoldering with rage.

"Four years of this, my ports, my ships, my people taken out one by one and none of you can tell me anything!?" Andrej growled to his sheepish followers as he stalked across his Greek villa.

His last few years had been plagued by progressively worse news as word came from all over Europe that Oluja was waging war on everything his father and he had worked to build. It had started small, low level smugglers and even bought police began to fall out of contact only to reappear on news shows when their corpses were discovered. Bad for business but of little consequence in the grand scheme of things.

It was only a year after the initial attacks that shit truly went sideways with the near annihilation of his ships and cargo at Piran port in Slovenia, almost one hundred million Euros in weapons and drugs were destroyed in a colossal fireball of Oluja's making, and to make matters worse, the attack had cost two of his newest cargo ships and dozens of men. The attack had Andrej fuming. The following attacks had him in a perpetual state of rage.

One by one his facilities and compounds were found and destroyed, his pleasure houses in Albania and Serbia, his drug plantations in Spain, no matter what precautions he took, they all went out in flames or shot to pieces. Simultaneously, key informants and bribed law enforcement were systematically eliminated en-masse, millions in bribes wasted, his ability to transport product whittled away seemingly month by month. In the end, to his shock, Oluja even targeted high level politicians, men who made business possible for Andrej and the other half dozen who could claim to be anywhere near his power, even they began to wind up strung from their own rooftops.

And now he was alone. Other Crime lords, the remaining dirty politicians, everyone distanced themselves from him, refusing his business and his money. It was all falling apart, and he didn't have the first idea at how to stop it.

"We had the whole dock checked and checked again; I don't know how the men could have possibly missed that many explosives!" One of the men tried to explain before Andrej rounded on him.

"I don't want to hear excuses!" He hissed, "I want to hear about Oluja, where are they, what are their motives? Anything!"

Another of the followers stepped forward. "Nobody can find anything on them, there is no word from our contacts amongst the various mercenary companies and no official investigation in any nation has turned anything up."

"Once again" Andrej breathed as he opened the gate leading to the rear of his property, he was quickly nearing the end of his proverbial rope, "I am tired of hearing about what we don't know, is there nothing we have learned…"

Andrej's voice trailed off at the sight before him. Two of his security team lay dead on the path before them, one lay in a growing puddle of blood, his throat opened from ear to ear, the other sat propped against a nearby wall, his right eye socket was a mess of blood and gore.

The clanging of the gate closing was the only noise to be heard, one of the men moved towards the bodies as if to check for a pulse only to fall limply to the ground as a crossbow bolt smashed through his skull.

The effect was instantaneous, Andrej and his men bolted in random directions, each man thinking of nothing beyond saving his own skin. One of the men ran back towards the gate, his hand had barely touched the latch before he fell to the ground screaming, a bolt jutting from his spine, another sprinted towards a large fountain for cover only to get a bolt through the neck, sending him crashing into the fountain.

Andrej and his remaining follower plunged through the next gate leading down a garden path, hearts pounding and lungs screaming, they continued down the path that would eventually lead them to the villa's parking lot, hoping the whole way that they would run into additional security.

They did. However, another blood-soaked and mutilated pair of corpses was not what they needed, but it was the message on the nearby wall that demanded their attention, **'YOU CAN RUN!'** Written in was looked to be the blood of his guards, the phrase chilled him to the core.

"What the hell is this?" His companion panted, his face pale despite the sprint they had just undertaken.

A slight whistle was the only warning before another bolt plunged into the companion's thigh, sending him to the ground screaming for help, help that would not be coming from Andrej as the man once more fled for his life.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Andrej chanted breathlessly as he tore through the remaining meters of his garden. They were here, they had been here likely since his meeting had begun, long enough to kill his guards and set a trap. He was through now, his empire was crumbling as it was, and this attack had killed off the last of his competent men, no, he had to go to ground and he had to go now, he had enough hidden way to live comfortably for the rest of his life…provided he got out of here alive.

Any hope of escape died as he arrived at the exit to his parking lot to find the four men that should have been guarding the entrance piled in front of the gate, their blood staining the concrete red, but it was the words **'But you can't hide!'** Written in the same bloody print that stopped him dead.

"Hello Andrej." Came a cold, feminine voice from behind him, "I've been waiting a long time to meet you."

Slowly, Andrej turned to face his attacker and couldn't stop his eyes from widening in surprise. Of all the possible enemies he had imagined over the past years, none of them came even close to the sight before him. It was a girl, a small girl at that, leaning up against one of the many olive trees in his garden, hidden in its shadow.

"I thought you would be taller." Andrej observed, if he was going to die, he'd be damned if he gave her the satisfaction of seeing him beg.

The girl just smiled; it was a cold smile that promised nothing but pain.

"Sorry to disappoint, but you've probably thought many wrong things." The girl stepped out from under the tree's shade.

The first thing Andrej noticed was the icy blue eyes. Her face was scarred, the most visible cut across the left side of her head, the side near shaved as if to proudly display it.

"You know, I expected this to be a lot harder. I didn't expec" The girl continued, as she absently fiddled with the red-streaked braid that the rest of her hair was pulled into.

A flash of anger interrupted his observations and he dove to snatch a pistol from a guard's limp hand, he quickly rolled to his feet to find that the girl had not moved at all in response, still standing with a hand on her hip, a brow raised as if to ask, 'Are you serious?'

"And you should have killed me when you had the chance, bitch!" Andrej sneered.

The girl smiled and then as if by magic she vanished. Any surprise at her sudden disappearance was immediately replaced by shock as he found his hands empty, clasping nothing but air.

"It's a nice gun." Came the girls voice to his right. "Model 1911, thick, reliable, unlikely to break if you crack someone upside the head with it."

"What? How did you…" Andrej tried to ask as he rounded on the her, to find only empty space.

"How did I what?" The girl asked innocently now back under the olive tree.

"God…it was you, this whole time, it was only you?" The realization struck him as hard as any crossbow bolt.

"For the most part yes. Not as stupid as you look."

The Oluja was a single girl, a single girl beyond anything human. Ever since that damned storm had blown his operation open….

"All of this since Croatia…Did you make that storm? What **are** you!?"

"No, I didn't make the storm…" The girl chuckled darkly. Then she was gone.

"I am the storm." Her voice behind him was the last he heard before the pistol grip slammed into his temple.

"And it's not over for you yet, we've got a lot to talk about."

* * *

July 2013

Vanessa sighed loudly as she dropped into bed. Working, even if it was from home, was a chore, especially over the past year or so.

"Do you want me to take care of Bradley tonight hon?" Ryan asked quietly.

"That would be wonderful." She replied giving him a sincere if tired smile.

Well into their late thirties, the arrival of their son had been a surprise to say the least, a Happy surprise, Ryan was always quick to say. When she had found out she was pregnant again she was ecstatic, she and Ryan had discussed another child while Max was still young but despite their 'best efforts' it seemed it was not to be, the desire for another child completely dwindled when the police search turned up only Max's school bag, smeared with her blood. Yet her discovery that she was expecting revived that old desire in its entirety.

That was at least until Bradley had been born, it seemed 17 odd years went a long way in helping one forget how much effort went into having a child, both she and Ryan were barely in their twenties when Max was born and any parental stress must have blended into the general mass of stress at the time. Vanessa was beyond happy to be a mother again, but she was exhausted, and she decided this would definitely be the last.

The faint light of her bedside lamp illuminated just enough of the room to reveal the lovingly framed photos on the bedroom walls, it had taken long years before she had become comfortable with Max's photos again, for so long they had brought out the worst of her emotions and insecurities, feeling as if each one accused her for her failings as a mother. She still missed her baby girl something fierce, but the pain was nothing more than a dull ache now.

Her self-introspection was cut short by the sound of the front door closing. She looked over at her husband in shock, Ryan looked back in confusion before they both leapt out of bed, snatching the nearest solid objects.

The house was empty or at least there was no sign of an intruder, the front lawn was clear and there were no cars parked out front. Ryan was had almost convinced himself that it must have been the neighbor's door when he heard Vanessa cry out from Bradley's room.

He burst into the room, baseball bat at the ready, the very stereotypical image of the defensive father, only to find his wife cradling their son sitting at the cradle-side table staring at Max's old camera.

A chair that hadn't been in the room when he put Bradley to bed.

A camera that had not left it's place on the fireplace mantle since the police had retrieved it during their investigation.

Slowly he approached, not wanting to startle his wife who was still staring at the camera, or as he noticed as he drew closer, what was under the camera.

An envelope that read _'Mom and Dad'_

With shaking hands,w he picked up the envelope, half expecting it to explode because even that would be more likely than his dead daughter writing from beyond the grave. Inside he found only a folded paper, obviously a letter. He didn't know what to do, none of this made any sense, it was as if he was experiencing a nightmare and heavenly dream all at once.

"Read it. Please." Vanessa begged.

 _"Dear Mom and Dad."_ He began, his voice breaking on the word 'dad', _"I didn't know how I was going to do this, I've thought a hundred times of a hundred different ways to break the news to you and I doubt this is the best way to go but here it is. I'm alive. I know this sounds like a cruel joke but it's the truth, you promised me, dad, after we moved here that you'd take me to see the thunderbirds play."_

Ryan paused again, needing to take a half dozen deep breaths.

 _"And mom was the one who found me crying at the beach after you two broke the news we were moving to Seattle. I made a stupid mistake that day in December, and I found a basement where people where they hold trafficking victims, followed a butterfly there because of course I did. I got myself taken and shipped to eastern Europe eventually where I escaped a few months later. I know you're about to ask why I didn't contact you right away, why I didn't run right to the nearest police station, well it's a good thing I didn't because there are a lot of law enforcement paid a lot of money to look the other way. As for why I didn't find the nearest phone and call you? It's a long story and it's why I can't come home yet."_

Ryan paused, working his jaw in an attempt to work moisture back into his mouth.

 _"I'm not the girl you lost five years ago; I haven't been since they took me. What they did to me broke me in more ways than one and what I did that made everything worse, I don't want to say here, maybe one day I can come clean, but I did horrible things to the people I thought deserved it, I wanted to hurt them as much as they hurt me and then more. And I did. That's why I didn't try come home and I'm sorry, I should have come right away, I thought that when I finished that I'd be free, that it would all be over, that the nightmares would stop. Oh, dog I was wrong, now it's just empty and the nightmares are worse. Maybe it's stupid and it's definitely selfish but I don't want to come home like this, I don't want to be the broken daughter or the shell of the daughter you lost. I need to be me again and I don't know how to do that, or how long it will take. I will come home one day and I hope it's soon, I miss you so much and I needed to tell you somehow that I'm alive and that I'm okay. Well, I'm not okay but I want to be. Please don't try to come and find me, I want it to be special when I see you again, if it's one thing I've gotten good at the past few years, it's staying hidden. I love you both so much – Max, never Maxine."_

Ryan could hardly see by the end with the tears clouding his eyes, he looked at his wife and saw the same conflicting emotions that must be playing across his own face.

"Honey, there's more on the back." She said.

Flipping the page, he saw what looked like hastily written post script, the careful finesse of the previous page lost.

 _"P.S – I had this all written out, all planned but of course there's always something… a little brother? I remember at least two Christmases where I asked Santa for a baby brother and now you guys decide on it? He's soooooo cute, and it's almost like he knows who I am, he just keeps pulling at my braid like it's his own toy, if I didn't already have enough reason to come back, here it is."_

Ryan quickly found himself sinking to the floor against the wall, it was too much to take in, part of him wanted to rush out into the night and track his daughter down, the other half was still denying that this was at all possible, that there was no way such a cruel world would just give him back his baby.

But the envelope was not empty, there was still something inside giving it weight. Carefully he removed the object – a polaroid photo, in an instant Vanessa was sitting beside him, Bradley reaching out at his father's beard as always.

The photo showed Bradley in the arms of a young woman, it took him seconds of staring before him breath caught in his throat and he recognized his own daughter. She looked older, and not just the physical sense, her eyes were older than they should be. Her hair was long, at least on one side of her head, tucked into a large braid hanging off one side of her head, different strands of the braid dyed red, the other side of her head was almost entirely shaved to reveal a thick scar running across her temple. She was smiling but it was the smile of someone who wasn't accustomed to it, pulling unfamiliar muscles in an attempt to imitate what she sees on the faces of others, the same smiling face was scarred so much it enraged him, someone had hurt his baby girl, multiple times, her eyebrow was split by a scar that thankfully didn't continue any further, but her other cheek was dominated but a pair of long scars that continued to the hidden side of her face. True to her words Bradley had a single pudgy hand raised to grasp her braid and was staring up at his sister with a wide and in his case, rare baby grin.

She still looked sad, but she looked healthy at least, aside from the bags under her eyes not hidden quite well enough by makeup. She wasn't home yet, but she would be soon.

That would have to be enough for now.


	2. Welcome home, stranger

**A/N:**

I'm really happy with the positive reception you guys have given me and i want to thank you for your comments and encouragement. I was tossing up whether to get into the main time frame of the Life is Strange story right away or to hold off a bit, i think it's probably important that i spend a little time fleshing out some character's personalities seeing as how this story Deviates from a little from cannon. It is a running theme in the game that small changes in the past cause drastic changes in the future after all.

As always, any critiques or comments are welcome :)

* * *

 **Arcadia bay - August 31** **st** **, 2013**

Max frowned, once again consulting her manual before leveling an annoyed glare at Lisa. 'Lisa' or 'that damned orchid' as Max had decided to nickname it, had the distinction of being one of the few things in recent years to utterly confound its owner, did it need watering or not? Did it need to be in the sun or in the shade? Was it flowering season? Because if it was, completely disregard all previous plans and start right back at square one.

"Ah, sod it." She eventually muttered to herself, opting to draw the thin shades on her windows. Hopefully it was the correct choice, or at least a choice that wouldn't kill the poor plant.

With a huff she turned to regard the rest of her dorm room, as to be expected, the room had come with little more than a bed, a desk and a small wardrobe, and if she were completely honest, it was everything that she had come to need over the past years. But it wouldn't do anymore, not for the student she was supposed to be, and so she had gone on a shopping spree that would have had young Max squealing with joy but now only managed to induce a self-satisfied smirk.

Picture perfect teenage dorm room. If it weren't for the bowie knife strapped under her bed. Or the gun stuffed inside her zip backed teddy-bear.

No one's perfect.

A large poster of blade runner dominated the wall above her study table courtesy of a local thrift store along with an impressive collection of pop vinyl's that she had developed a weird obsession with. She had replaced the god-awful mattress with a brand new one which soft enough that she felt as if she was lying on a cloud, and finally she had splurged out and bought a pair of soft beanbags, a stereo system and television, a newest line mac-book pro and one of the more expensive camera sets she could find in a small town like this, if she was going to rekindle her love for photography, she wasn't going to go about it like a cheapskate.

She briefly wondered how Andrej would feel about how she was spending his 'retirement fund'. She snorted, his response would probably have been 'please, please' as all his responses had become halfway into their ' _chat'_.

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thought. If there is a god out there, Max was royally fucked.

It was a surprise even to Max that she ended up in her hometown, it was her intent to avoid it like the plague, she had no true idea as to where she would go, she had merely caught the first bus to Portland and promptly caught the first bus out on arrival. She supposed it was somewhat poetic that her search for herself would bring her back to Arcadia bay, it just so happened that her childhood photography inspiration was now teaching at Blackwell Academy. She had applied that same day, Blackwell was of course delighted to accept a foreign student with such an excellent history of academic success.

Max couldn't help but snort to herself, she had never been anything more than an average student during her time at school but her alter ego _'Maxine Sartori'_ was of course the type of student any school would jump at the chance to enrol. She wasn't worried, she had managed to teach herself everything from chemistry to a handful of languages while dismantling a criminal empire, she could handle Blackwell.

A knock on her door roused her from her internal dialogue, it was almost time for orientation anyway, she had already mapped the whole school in her head during her nocturnal adventures, today was her chance to map the students themselves.

She opened her door revealing a small teenage girl, her hair was done up in a large bun atop her head allowing trimmed bangs to frame her near-flawless face, her clothing was understated but it suited her, and a gold cross necklace completed the conservative religious image.

 _This girl would have been eaten alive in the compound._

"Hi! I'm Kate, I'm in room 222." She began, gesturing at a door not far down the hallway, Max didn't know how someone who looked so nervous could hold such a big smile. "Are you going to come to orientation?"

Despite herself, Max found herself with a small smile although it was probably still an unnerving one if Kate's slight change in expression was anything to go by. Still, she seemed nice and she reminded Max of herself before her life turned to shit.

"Hey Kate, nice to meet you." Max replied, trying her damnedest to not come across as more of a weirdo. "Yeah, I was getting ready to leave when you knocked, do you want to go down together?"

Kate's face lit up with another bright smile. "Oh, cool! I think everyone else has already left and going alone wouldn't be nice."

"Most people have already been here a few days, they didn't have to unpack today." Max stated with a shrug. "Just give me a second and I'll be right out."

Quickly Max leapt in front of her mirror, her makeup was minimal and not particularly well applied but she could sit in front of the mirror for hours and make no progress, her hair looked fine, a few loose strands in her bangs had come free from her signature braid but she kind of liked it. Seeing no further reason to dawdle, she threw on her new leather jacket and turned to leave.

She paused as she reached her door before returning to grab her scarf and aviator glasses, in a pinch they made a decent enough mask. Old habits die hard.

It wasn't long before the two girls arrived in the courtyard in front of the Academy, any confusion as to where they needed to be was lost as they noticed the large congregation of students clustered around the fountain.

"Kate! There you are!" Came a voice as two girls emerged from the throng of students. "We were almost convinced you were skipping out."

The girl speaking had cheerleader written all over her, long blonde hair framed a perfectly symmetrical face, the neckline of her shirt plunging down to accentuate her generous bust, leaving Max to wonder just how she would manage any acrobatics with _those_ throwing her off balance.

"Hi Dana, hey Juliet, we were just finishing up organizing our rooms." Kate said shyly, she was obviously unused to attention.

The girl, Juliet turned to face Max. "Hey, you must be the new girl from Italy, right?"

Max's eyebrow rose in surprise. ' _This one is well informed'._ "That's me, nice to meet you." She said aloud, stepping forward to give her a kiss on each cheek, smirking internally as the girl was caught off-guard by the European custom.

Dana, on the other hand seemed thrilled and eagerly stepped forward to repeat the gesture.

"You don't sound completely Italian." Juliet observed once she collected herself.

In truth, Max's accent was a strange one, almost five years travelling Europe and learning various languages had led her to develop a weird bastardized accent.

"My tutor said much the same thing, I was trying to copy his Boston accent for the longest time, it was unique what with most tutors being British." Max replied with an attempt at a disarming smile. Assuming identities was not a challenge for her, she had bullshitted her way through far worse.

Dana made a shooing gesture. "Pfffft, I'd much rather have a British accent, so sexy!"

That got a chuckle from Max, she had no shame whatsoever, Max could get used to her. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

The noise around them died down completely as a well-dressed man made his way in front of the group, his dark skin already gleaming with sweat.

"Good Morning students!" He began in a deep baritone, "For those of you who do not yet know me, I'm principal Wells, I hope you all took full advantage of your summer Vacation, I know Blackwell has. Over the course of the break Blackwell Academy has undergone extensive renovations in order to provide the best possible conditions for your academic enrichment. Now without further ado, let's begin this tour."

It was only one set of doors and two dozen paces before they arrived at the first exhibit on the Blackwell tour.

"Firstly, we have our new and improved auditorium, fully prepared for theatre productions and other performance arts." Wells began as he opened the double doors to reveal an almost excessively large hall, the entire school could fit in there and likely not use half of the available seats. "In the past we have held such events in the courtyard, but by the generosity of the Prescott foundation, we have a marvellous platform on which to make our name known across the state."

Max rolled her eyes as the man walked into the hall continuing his speech, the man was very proud about receiving donations from the family which seems to have bought half the town, she briefly wondered just how much control the family has over Blackwell now.

"Bigger than I expected, money well spent." Came a voice to Max's right, the girl speaking gazed around the Auditorium with an appreciative gaze with bright blue eyes.

Max had to wonder if it was a requirement for girls to be attractive in order to attend Blackwell, she had yet to see any girl that didn't look like an aspiring model and this pixie cut platinum blonde was no exception. The speaker was perhaps an inch or two taller than Max and dressed in an outfit that was worth a semesters tuition, a cashmere sweater over a gold thread blouse and a slim fitting skirt and designer boots. She definitely came from money.

"Seems a little ostentatious for the number of students here." Max hummed, watching as the girl froze slightly as if she was unaware she had spoken aloud. "Or does Blackwell do a lot of theatre performances?"

The blonde turned to regard max, he expression becoming slightly disdainful after observing her prompting Max to raise a questioning brow.

"They have become more popular over the past few years, quite a few visitors from Portland regularly come down since we did a rendition of The Tempest a few years back." She eventually stated.

"Makes sense then if they are trying to grow their theatre reputation." Max conceded. "So, you are involved in the theatre then?"

A strange look passed over the girls face before she replied, "Not so much, I was understudy for Prospera in The Tempest but… It didn't end up being something I enjoyed so much."

Max sensed a story there, then a small detail in what she said caught her. "Prospera? Seems like quite the change to make."

The blonde turned to her, her gaze reappraising. "Yeah, we had a lack of talent in the male actor department, it wasn't 'cool' so much back then." She said with annoyed air quotes. "Do you perform as well?"

Max very nearly let out a dark humoured chuckle, if only she knew just how many roles Mac had played over the years, granted, Max's performances ended in blood as often as not. She gazed again at the girl's blonde pixie cut, it would be so much easier cleaning blood out of hair like hers.

With yet another mental slap she forced herself to reply before she came off as a complete idiot. "No, I've never had anything to do with theatre, but I read did read a lot of Shakespeare when I was…learning English." Classical literature was usually the only genre she could get her hands on when she was teaching herself to read Italian and the habit stuck for every language she picked up.

"Ah, that makes perfect sense." She replied, nodding understandingly as they followed the group out of the Auditorium, the principal had yet more to show off. "So, what brings you to Blackwell? I assume you are the Italian student?"

' _So much for staying under the radar'_ "That's me, everyone seems to know about me."

The blonde smirked, "A European girl turning up in our little patch of nowhere? Everyone's going to know, you can thank our resident journalist Juliet for that, she puts everything out there in her paper." Her face darkened considerably during her last statement.

Max sighed. It made sense in hindsight. "Well, I'm here for photography more than I'm here to start a fan club."

"Photography?" She repeated, seeming surprised before her expression turned impressively unreadable. "Here for Mr Jefferson, are we?"

"Not every school can boast a world-renowned photography on their teaching staff." Max agreed, noting her sudden change in demeanour.

"Mark's classes are by far the most enjoyable, I'll have a spot in a gallery in no time with his tutelage." The stated in a lofty tone.

' _Not so healthy ego we have here.'_ Max snarked internally. "There's quite a few students who will benefit from Jefferson's 'tutelage'."

The girl waved a hand dismissingly, "Few have the talent and the one's that do lack the drive, most don't even have the right equipment for the job." She gave Max a level stare. "I hope you at least have a decent camera, I can't imagine how he feels trying to help students who can't even give him a proper photo."

' _The lady doth protest too much.'_ Max thought to herself. What a shame, she seemed nice. "Brought a Nikon df with me so I'll be fine."

"That's…I've heard good things about it actually." The blonde conceded.

"I do like the retro feel to it. It reminds me of my old polaroid camera, sometimes I'd almost prefer that to be honest."

The other girl clearly disagreed if her scrunched up face was any indication. "I don't see why you'd prefer it, it has nothing on a modern Nikon no matter what quality it was."

"Obviously the technology has gone light years since then but there's something about older cameras…no pissing around, no intensive computer work after, just you, capturing that moment. You don't get a second shot so when you do get that perfect image, it is so satisfying."

Whatever her acquaintance may have intended to say was forgotten as a deeper, masculine voice interrupted them. "I have to agree with our new student here, Victoria. When all is said and done, the ability to seize the moment and capture it as you see it is an irreplaceable skill. Of course, once you have that skill, it helps to have all the latest gadgets."

The man stepped in closer and held out his hand. "Mark Jefferson, although if you came here for photography you are probably aware of that."

Max reach out, shaking his hand politely. She hadn't heard the man approach, she hadn't been so absorbed in her conversation that she was unaware of her surroundings, the man was _quiet_. Max didn't like it.

"Piacere." Max responded, deciding she should make at least some effort to play her role. "I'm Max."

"Ah, so it is our foreign student, I assume the other students have been sufficiently annoying about it?" Jefferson asked with a laugh.

"It's no so much annoying as it is a surprise, I came here for photography, not to be the newest hot topic." She responded. There was something about Jefferson that rubbed her the wrong way.

"So, have you had the chance to go out and get some field experience? I imagine Italy has more than a few photo worthy opportunities."

"You'd be surprised, when something is the norm, it loses its appeal to most people but yes, I guess you could say I've spent most of the last four years out following people around with a camera." Max had filled boxes with notes and photo shots during her time surveilling her targets.

Jefferson laughed, "Well that's one way to do it, anyway, I do believe the tour is moving on without you."

It had indeed, much to Max's annoyance, she was getting tired of this conversation. That and the annoyed look on 'Victoria's' face at not being the centre of Jefferson's attention.

She needed to find Kate, annoyingly cute beats just plain annoying any day.

* * *

Max let out a sigh as she unceremoniously threw herself on her bed. Orientation had been less enjoyable than she had thought it would be but then again, she went to get a feel for the students and unfortunately student are people. Max doesn't typically get along with people.

Her Steller social history aside, she had learned more than a few different titbits of information. There was a student missing, although the consensus was that she finally made good on her goal to escape to L.A, there were also rumours of the same student sleeping with Jefferson, it made a sick sort of sense if she was trying to get into modelling. It would also explain the creepy vibe she got from him.

She'd introduce him to her bowie knife if he tried anything.

Thankfully the other teachers seemed to be on the better side, Miss Grant was shaping up to be her favourite, she never gave much thought to science in school before, but Miss Grant's enthusiasm was near infectious. The Drama teacher Mr Keaton was nice if a little…eccentric but then again, she supposed a little eccentricity was necessary for theatre.

Humming a tune by pisshead that she heard on the radio, she pulled a notepad from her bedside table and began to note down what she learned about everyone today.

Old habits do die hard.

 _Kate is every inch the shy conservative girl she appears, and she is worryingly naïve, but it's refreshing in a way, she's completely incapable of deception. Despite her conservative beliefs she's surprisingly open, her only problem is she thinks everyone will accept her opinions as much as she does theirs. She spent most of the day trying to find out where she can help out with volunteer work around town, I'll have to keep an eye on her, she makes an easy target._

 _Dana is too peppy and flirtatious for her own good, half the guys are all over her and the other half are too shy to do so. Nice enough though, doesn't understand the concept of personal space which is a problem, she's probably the type to barge into my room unannounced. Pretty attached to Juliet, can't tell if they're close friends or if they got a friends with benefits thing going on._

 _Juliet needs to keep her nose out of my business. Nice enough girl though. I turned down an interview with her, I think I fucked up because she didn't seem too happy._

 _Victoria was nice enough before photography got involved, she's obviously competitive but she seems pretty insecure about it as well, she comes from money though so she's probably got mommy and daddy breathing down her neck. She's got an unnatural fixation with Jefferson, need to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't sleep her way to the top of class._

 _Speaking of which, Jefferson makes me anxious, and not just because he was part of why I took up photography. There's something off about him, maybe it's him sleeping with students, maybe he's just weird. I'll be watching him._

 _Principal Wells is your almost stereotypical grandstanding executive, eager to pass off other people's contributions as his own and loves the sound of his own voice. I wouldn't trust him when push comes to shove, someone's pulling his strings and their last name is probably Prescott._

 _Head of security is a guy named Madsen. Got a massive stick up his ass so he's probably ex-military or police. Bit of a prick. And by that, I mean he's an asshole. Dedicated to his job though, shouldn't have a problem with him._

 _Didn't see this elusive 'king of assholes' Nathan Prescott, wasn't there today. Can't blame him. According to most, he's on the unstable side so best not poke the bear. Bear's crazy and has a rich daddy._

 _Met this guy Warren, bumped into him in the science room while he was geeking out with some girl I didn't get the name of, completely ignored her after and followed me around, if he wasn't so utterly clueless he'd be an ass. Girl gave me the evils too…no es bueno. Smart though, I'll probably need his help when crunch time comes around, that'll be a fine line to walk._

 _The stoner prince Justin is chill as fuck. Probably high most the time but hey, to each their own. Nobody dislikes him, so he'll be useful if I need back up with any of these damn cliques around here. I'll need to find out where he gets his MJ from, I'm running dry and I do need to sleep. Hook a sister up._

 _Last but not least, Rachel. Gone for months now but still hot topic number one, everyone seems head over heels with her. Doesn't seem natural for someone to be so universally popular at high school. Made no effort to hide the fact she plans to run off to L.A with her 'punk friend' (Who doesn't seem to share her popularity, jealous much people?), apparently, she got some other kid expelled along with her or something like that. Problem is, she's gone without a word and punk friend is looking for her, found a 'missing' poster today. Cold as it is, I hope she just ditched her friend, the alternative means I'm probably going to have to kill someone. I'd really prefer not to._

Satisfied with her notes for the day she threw them back into the draw and locked it, wouldn't do to have some nosy bitch see them. She hesitated before opening the second draw, it wasn't locked but it held something far more important to her. Her fingers brushed over the cover of the album, she remembered making this with the was eleven years old, Chloe provided the shells that are glued on the cover and copious amounts of blue glitter. She always did love the colour blue.

With a shaking hand she opened the album to reveal a cacophony of polaroid pictures, some pages laid out well and labelled, others stuck at times half over one another. She drew in a deep breath, trying to will her heart to stop pounding, being so close yet so far to her long lost best friend was painful, she couldn't even bring herself to stalk her a little like she'll likely do to a few people around Blackwell.

' _Dog, this was a bad idea'_

She couldn't honestly say that Chloe had nothing to do with her decision to stay in Arcadia bay, as much as she may tell herself that it was purely for Blackwell, for photography and finding little baby Max who loved her camera so much, the truth was she wanted to see her again so bad it hurt…but she'd dug herself a pretty deep hole. Everyone knows her as the new foreign girl, Chloe knows her as Max, Arcadia born and bred, if she met her, she would have to explain why. What happened. What she was now.

She's not ready to talk about that yet. She needs to get better before she tries anything like that.

But looking down at a particular photo, one in which the two girls dressed as pirates stood laughing in each other's arms, Max was more than tempted to throw her doubts to the wind and kick down the door to her friend's house, shouting out for the whole world to hear.

Max shut the album with a huff. She's got to stop doing this to herself, she's such a sucker for pain.

* * *

 _Thwack_

 _Thwa-Thwack_

The steady drum beat of her fist against the bag would have been satisfying if they were more than barely audible above the sound of her music. She didn't know how long she had been going on the bag this time, all she knew is that she needed it, baking was fine, but it was more of a temporary time out on the rolling mess of emotion that was Chloe Price. She needed a release, and beating the proverbial shit out of the kickboxing back was the most release she had since the last time she and Rachel-

 _THWACK - THWACK!_

' _Stop it Chloe!'_ She scolded herself.

Even putting everything she had into her punches sometimes failed to distract her from how much it sucked – how much it hurt that Rachel was missing, missing just like Max was missing before... ' _NO! she's still alive, I know it, she has to be…'_

 _Thwack_

Three months, it had been three months since she disappeared, that strange message left on Chloe's phone, she had found someone life changing and she had found a way out of Arcadia bay for them. Part of her hoped that she had gone to prepare the way, throw herself into some modelling gig and then they'd be set. A bigger part knew better.

 _Thwack - Thwack_

Funnily enough it had been David of all people who had been the biggest stabilizing force. Not through his actions or words, god no, he was awful as ever in that regard, but he did understand the need for an outlet and thus her 19th birthday present, the gloves and bag. It may be the only time she had honestly thanked him for anything, the look of surprise on his face when she did indicated that it probably was.

 _Thwack_

For the most part it kept her out of trouble, she would wake up, thrash the bag, hang more posters then come home and thrash the bag some more. It was actually putting her in really good shape, bruised knuckles non-withstanding. She'd be pretty happy with herself if Rachel could see-

THWACK!

"FUCK!" She growled as she planted her head against the still swaying bag. She was sweaty as a mother fucker and this session on the bag had not been nearly as cathartic as she would have liked but she was quite spent, any more and she wouldn't be able to lift a poster let alone resume plastering Arcadia bay with them.

With an aggravated sigh, she switched the speakers off and made her way out of the garage and back into the house, she was home alone, just as she liked it. David was generally an ass and they never got along , Joyce…well she and Joyce still don't talk much, she felt bad for the look of hurt on her face whenever Chloe brushed her off but not as bad as it felt to know that her mother had lied to her for years, letting her think her best friend was simply not interested in speaking to her, keeping silent every time Chloe bombed out Max's voicemail. Stupid phone was probably in some evidence lock-up.

Today had been a particularly rough one. She had finally summoned the courage to talk to Rachel's mom and asshat of a dad, it hadn't gone well. They didn't need or want her help, nor did they want to work together to find their daughter, she had already done enough damage to their family, she should leave this to the professionals and other such bullshit.

' _The same professionals who hire drug dealers to do their dirty work?"_ Chloe thought sarcastically as she stomped up the stairs, ' _It's not like Arcadia shit stain is known for its competent police work, three unsolved missing persons cases in as many years in a town that has roughly the same population as a fucking Eagles concert, yeah! Great job.'_

Yet another exasperated sigh escaped her lip as she collapsed into her desk chair. The desk was a mess of paper, missing person posters littered her desk dotted with various bits of paraphernalia. She cleared a patch and set up her laptop, she had work to do, Rachel wasn't going to find herself.

She had a message from Steph Gingrich, her old table top buddy was working in Hollywood at the moment, she managed to get herself a gig in set design. _Hey Chloe, I haven't heard from Rachel in a while now actually and it really worries me that she's disappeared, that girl wouldn't have gone anywhere without dragging you along kicking and screaming if necessary. I don't exactly have a whole lot of contacts around here, but I'll definitely keep an ear to the ground and I'll get in touch with Drew and Mikey. Please keep me posted._

It didn't surprise her that Steph hadn't heard anything, Steph and Rachel didn't have much contact with each other outside of Chloe, but she was the only one that she knew for certain lived in L.A. An email notification caught her attention and her eyes nearly bulged out of her face when she saw the name.

 _Message from: Sera Gearhardt_

 _Chloe, I've received a disturbing number of messages from James accusing me of stealing Rachel away from him, Subtle threats aside, it's nothing new but, He mentioned you were still in Arcadia bay and she wasn't, I'm not stupid, I know this means she's gone missing and I want to know exactly what happened. Please explain the situation to me, Rachel and I are still not as close as I want but…I don't think I could stand to lose my daughter again_

Chloe closed her eyes and leaned back groaning to herself, she had enough problems right now, she didn't need to have the added pressure of everyone else's drama. The again, she was the biggest reason Sera and Rachel were in contact…had been in contact, it's not like she was going to leave her hanging anyway but she was not in the right frame of mind to reply to her just yet.

The was one other pressing issue demanding her attention, just a little problem. She supposed to some people three thousand dollars plus interest would be chump change, owing it to a drug dealer only made things more complicated. She supposed Frank was hardly just her dealer, the two have had some strange semblance of friendship for years and he wasn't nearly as gruff and dangerous as he liked to lead on however, he had become increasingly irritable and impatient over the last few months and Chloe was no closer to having his money.

' _Fuck this'_ She thought, pushing herself up from the desk and leaving her room. She wasn't making money or finding Rachel sitting around with her thumb up her ass, she needed to get a move on.

She stopped at the top of the stairs.

' _Maybe a shower first would be best.'_

* * *

 ** _August 31st 2013_**

 _So, I've decided to start keeping a proper journal, i remember that i used to write almost every single day when i was a kid so it seems like a good habit to get back into. It'll help me record progress if nothing else so, here's hoping._

 _Blackwell is not exactly what i dreamed of when i was a kid but, then again, very little in the world has turned out how i had imagined it so, whatever. Met the majority of my teachers today and i'm pleasantly surprised with them all, maybe the academy made a special effort to get the best teachers available or maybe i'm just older and teachers were always good and i couldn't see it through my pre-pubescent angst._

 _I think i made friends today? How do you tell? i can't even remember how me and Chloe became so attached. Dog i am so bad at this. Anyway, Kate is cool but i get the feeling Victoria and her merry band of followers will consider her little more than a_ _pincushion when school really gets in the swing of things. Dana and Juliet are nice enough but i think Dana is the only one willing to be friends after today. Still don't understand how i managed to fuck that up._

 _I'm going to have another mid-night stroll, there's a few places i want to check out and i may as well pay a little visit to the Arcadia bay royalty, if they're going to have their fingers in everyone else's pie then i may as well take a look at what they have hidden away. I've decide to go to the Two Whales, at least i'll be able to see if Joyce still lives here, i'll be careful as always although i doubt she would recognize me, i barely recognize myself._

 _Anyway i guess this is ever-improving crazy max signing off._


	3. The Breaking Point

**A/N:**

Hey Guys!

Happy to bring you another chapter, I had initially intended this to be longer but i figured it would be better to split the chapter in two, i was finding it hard to keep track of it all when i read through it. University is starting again so these fast updates will likely not continue.

Thank you all for your support and comments, it's nice to read your thoughts on my work. As always feel free to let me know what you think and what you feel could be done better :)

This story does contain dark themes and implications.

* * *

Darkness. The absence of light is the bane of young children all over the world, millions spent on small lights to comfort children before bedtime, millions of children begging their parents to stay with them until they sleep under the guise of wanting to hear a bedtime story, most children grew out of such fears within years, some even came to prefer the dark and the solace it provides them, those who do not outgrow the fear keep the fact hidden in an attempt to avoid the embarrassment and derision that comes from being plagued by such an _irrational fear_. Such fears are hardly irrational, our oldest ancestors understood the dangers in the dark, why else was fire and shelter the most precious commodity they possessed? One cannot flee in the dark, inky shadows obscures obstacles that will always impede the prey more than the predator, the only choice is to hide, hide from the monsters that lurk in the shadows, that prey on you in the night, the monsters you have no hope of fighting.

Fear of the dark is _not_ irrational, she knew.

Max knew fear better than anyone.

She knew the terror of being sealed in the dark with only the cries and screams of her fellow victims to tell her she was not alone. She knew the fear that came with knowing you were about to be hurt, the knee wobbling horror at seeing your tormentor stride towards you with a sadistic look in their eye. She knew the indignant dread that came from being bought and sold like an animal, the grabbing hands of her 'masters' dragging her in and out of underground auctions. She knew the mind-numbing panic that accompanied being tied down, knowing you were to be subject to the very worst humanity had to offer. She knew the hopeless resignation that took away the very will to continue.

Max knew where the breaking point was. God, did she know.

The woman bound to the chair before her would learn this soon enough.

"Please." The woman sobbed through the bag on her head.

What she meant by her plea was uncertain, was it please let me go? Please stop hurting me? Please tell me what you want? Max didn't know or care.

It had been three days since she had brought Nadia here, three days in which she hadn't said a word, hadn't let the woman get more than an hour of sleep at any one time, hadn't done anything more than feed her, give her water and break the occasional appendage. She was out of fingers and toes. The key, she understood from experience, was to destroy any sense of routine, Max knew it had been three days since she had begun, but Nadia wouldn't know if days, weeks or months had passed at this point. The dark has taken her. The sleep deprivation has weakened her. The pain has tormented her.

Hopelessness would break her. Max knew this better than anyone else.

There would be no 'Deus ex butterfly' to save Nadia. There hadn't been for anyone else with whom Max had a ' _chat'_ with.

The lack of crying combined with Nadia's deepening breathing informed Max that her guest had fallen asleep. She set her timer for a half hour, couldn't let the woman recover to any real degree, it could mean starting over from the beginning, an amateur mistake. Max was not an amateur.

Years of work were coming to a crescendo. She had torn across Europe destroying Damjanac's drug, weapons and slaving facilities, she had fought, she had bled and she had often brushed against death itself. She had mercilessly hunted down, eviscerated and _then_ exposed every cop, lawyer and politician that she could connect to Andrej's various operations, it was working, there was no honour among these thieves and he was being abandoned and cut off from every avenue of support. Now Max had Nadia, the woman who bought every girl for Andrej's various businesses, one of his closest partners and, if rumours were true, his occasional lover.

It wouldn't be long before she had the head of the snake strung up by his thumbs for the world to see.

Eventually her timer sounded, indicating that naptime was over. Max moved deeper into the dark room to retrieve the bucket of water, it wasn't so dark that she couldn't see, but with the bag constantly over Nadia's head, it may as well have been a constant moonless night. Careful not to spill any on herself, max made her way before the sleeping woman before emptying the bucket over her head.

Nadia barely moved.

Max frowned and reached over to slap the woman a few times on the cheek. The bound woman barely groaned before moving hear head to present the other cheek. Max raised her brow, surely she wasn't done yet.

She leaned in close to the woman's covered ear. "Falling asleep on me already, Nadia? You haven't even made it through the first day yet." She lied with a whisper.

The woman began to sob quietly. Max had expected her to last longer.

"But you want to talk already, don't you?" Max asked with faux innocence. The bound woman nodded. "Very well, where can I find your friend Andrej Damjanac?"

"I don't know." Came a broken whisper. Max frowned, something was wrong.

"Now, now Nadia, think very carefully before you answer, where is Andrej Damjanac?"

"Please, I'll do anything you say." That voice…it was wrong, it was not the voice of a woman in her late 30's. Max reached forward and grasped the hood, with a single tug she tore the fabric from her captive's head.

Max stumbled back, her legs beginning to shake. There was no woman in the chair, only a young girl. Empty, ocean blue eyes peered at Max, red and smeared with tears, the girls face was dotted with freckles that so many would find adorable and her brown hair was pulled into a short pony tail.

Max knew the face. She had seen it in the mirror every day before school.

"Don't like your own work?" Asked a dry voice from the shadows.

Max started towards her gun only to find it missing, her knife too was gone and the darkness seemed to be creeping in towards her. "Show yourself." She commanded, secretly proud that her voice was still calm.

"I never could hide from you." The voice conceded as a man staggered from the darkness. Max's breath caught in her throat.

It was Andrej Damjanac. His handsome face was a mess of bruises and blood, his left ear had been torn from his head and his right eye was nothing more than a raw, gaping wound. The man continued forward towards Max and she felt the bile rise within her. His right leg was twisted at so many wrong angles. The walking nightmare reached out a mangled hand, every joint on every finger bent and twisted.

"Am I not everything you wanted?" The man gurgled as he stopped before her, blood trailing from his mouth.

"Perhaps I am sufficient." Another voice called from the opposite side of the room. Nadia herself limped out of the dark, her hands and feet swollen and blue, the empty sockets of her gouged eyes seemed to peer right into Max.

"I know I wasn't enough." Another man stepped in behind, unrecognizable under the blood and gore that covered him.

"O sufficiente nunca basta." Stated another from behind her.

The air was filled with the calls of dozens of men and women in various languages as they moved from the shadows to surround her, their broken and twisted forms struggling to hold them upright.

Max couldn't breathe, they were all dead, she knew it, she had been the one to break each of them, the one to tear her answers from their hollow husks before hanging them out as a message to the underworld. The tactic had worked, every successive person she caught broke halfway before she had even gotten to work on them, her reputation alone doing half the job.

And now they were here. On a deeper level she recognized she was dreaming, but that level was buried deep under a layer of nausea, terror and shame. She had done this.

"Leave me alone!" she cried, lashing out with a fist towards Andrej's wreck of a face. Her fist was stopped dead as Andrej caught it with his broken hand.

"We can't." He stated calmly, leaning into her face. "We're all part of you now, our _legacy_."

-0-0-

"NO!" Max screamed as she shot from her bed, her chest heaving and tears running from her eyes. She gripped her bedframe tightly as she drew to a sitting position, trying desperately to will her pounding heart and breathing back under control. It took a full five minutes.

The nightmare was the worst in years, she rarely woke screaming anymore, she had gotten past that by her mid-teens. Or so she had thought.

Climbing to her feet, she made her way to her room's window grabbing a metal case from under her orchid, her precious plant guarded her ' _precious plant'_. She was relieved when she opened the case to find a joint already rolled, she didn't think she would be capable of rolling one right now with how bad her hands were shaking, she would have a hard-enough time lighting the damned thing.

True enough, once she had opened the window it took her minutes of fumbling and cursing before the strong scent filled her nose. It was over a month now that classes had started, and Max was not doing nearly as well as she wanted, oh, her grades were perfect, true to her assumption, it was easy to please her teachers and even when she found concepts difficult…well, she had more time on her hands then most. No, the problem was that she didn't feel any better about herself, she was as irritable as ever, leading most people to avoid her when alone, even photography failed to bring out any great sense of joy, she enjoyed it more than any other subject, but it was nothing like the all-consuming obsession she had as a child to capture every moment.

This wasn't working, and Max was scared.

Scared because after everything she had been through, all the pain, all the anger and all the fear, she still hoped to go home, to leave the last five years behind her and move on. It wasn't happening, she felt like she was going backwards now, the nightmares were getting worse and she didn't know how long it would be before she completely lost hope.

Max knew where the breaking point was. God, did she know.

She took another drag. She knew she couldn't keep going like this, she was running on a varying cocktail of drugs and sheer stubbornness, but she could feel herself slipping, she knew everyone else saw it as well, her eyes were constantly sunken, and the bags were getting beyond her ability to cover up with makeup, she rarely cared enough to do so now. As if sensing weakness, Victoria and those like her moved in like dogs, it took one bloody nose and her harshest death glare to dissuade them. Kate and Dana stood by her though, either too stupid or too caring to see it was fruitless. Max didn't deserve them.

It wasn't long before the joint burned out and she felt a little lighter, it should be enough for the rest of the night, she could put up with a little exhaustion. She hadn't slept a night through since she was thirteen, it was a way of life for her and it hardly mattered.

She didn't what _did_ matter anymore.

* * *

 **October 7** **th** **, 2013**

The Morning found a tired Max standing out front of Kates door. The little cinnamon bun, as Max affectionately thought of her, had been missing in action the entire weekend, neither Max nor Dana had been able to contact her, Although Kate's parents had an odd habit of whisking her away for various Christian functions, it was unlike Kate to go radio silent for so long. She knocked at the door.

A minute passed. Max knocked again. Another full minute passed and Max was preparing to kick her way in when the door opened a crack, there was no Kate peering through the gap as she normally did nor was there any light shining through. Worried, she shouldered her way through the door in the darkened room, it didn't feel right inside, the windows were covered and the room smelled as if neither sun nor fresh air had graced the area in days, the normally immaculate room was a mess of discarded clothes and papers, even the mirror was completely obscured under a sheet.

Kate herself looked terrible, her eyes were sunken as if she had barely slept and her entire posture made her look defeated. Max felt dread coil within her, she had seen people like this before hell, she had been a person like that.

"Hey Max, I managed to oversleep. Thanks for waking me." Even the girls normally bright voice was dull and lifeless.

"Kate…" Max started, unsure of what she should do. "What's wrong? You look…down." She finished lamely.

"No, I just…didn't get enough sleep last night. I know I look something awful." Max was rarely fooled by even good liars, Kate was not a good liar.

"Kate, please. Talk to me, what's going on?" Max pleaded as Kate turned away from her to fiddle with the scattered papers on her desk.

"I don't-Please max, not right now." The last part uttered quietly enough the Max had to strain to hear.

She knew better than to force the issue, she was not the type to talk about her own problems. Instead she stepped forward and hugged the girl from behind, Kate froze momentarily, Max didn't know if it were in annoyance or in surprise. Max rarely touched anyone.

"When you want to talk, I'm here okay?" She asked before stepping away and heading for the door.

She heard Kate's wavering voice thanking her before the door closed.

Max had to run to make Mrs Grant's science class in time and even then, she had only just entered the class before the bell rung. She quickly scanned the room for available seats and typically, the only free seat was next to Warren. Max sighed. It wasn't that she didn't like him, he was probably the most likeable guy in the whole school in her opinion, but his crush on her was nearing oppressive levels, no matter how many times she turned down a request for 'coffee' or to study together, he never seemed to get the hint. That was typical of him though, he still hadn't picked up Brooke's hints either, that girl was pretty much waving a runway torch in front of him and he couldn't see it.

"Yo Maximus!" The boy greeted as she plonked down next to him. "Almost missed it, must've been watched one too many movies last night huh?"

Max was momentarily confused, then it clicked. "Yeah, I started and just never stopped." She was lying, she had not watched a single movie on the boy's flash drive, she had copied over some of the recognizable ones but the mood to watch a movie had not yet struck her.

"You should watch Big trouble in little China if you haven't already, that one's an absolute classic!" He continued in a whisper as Mrs Grant began her class. Max was settling in for a rough class when her phone buzzed. It was Kate.

Kate: _Hey Max, you around?_

Max looked around, Warren's attention was momentarily captured by Mrs Grant and nobody else was paying enough attention to rat her out.

Max: _Always. What do you need?_

Kate: _Do you want to get tea later today?_

She and Kate had tea together quite regularly, Max suspected it was Kate's attempt to get her to open up about what was wrong with her. The irony was not lost on her.

Max: _Absolutely. Should be free after 4_

Kate: _TTYL_

Max sighed to herself in relief, at least something went right.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully until photography. As soon as she walked through the door she knew something was amiss, Kate was in class but she was timidly sitting in a corner avoiding contact with anyone, normally she and Daniel would be discussing their mutual love of drawing, she had also selected the desk with the editing computers ensuring no one could sit with her.

Max made her way to her usual seat noting that Victoria and her crew of sycophants arrayed facing Kate, smirking and laughing among themselves which Kate seemed pointedly trying to ignore. The laughs died down as she passed them confirming her thoughts, they would only have done so if they were mocking Max or Kate as the latter was squarely under Max's 'protection'.

' _What could possibly be going on?"_ Max thought to herself as she set herself down and prepared her books. ' _Maybe someone died in her family? No, she would be gone for a funeral in that case, or maybe that's where she was over the weekend, it would explain her lack of communication.'_ Another giggle from Victoria and her friend Courtney interrupted her thoughts. ' _No, not even the three stooges would be so heartless as to tease someone about a death. They better not be, for their sakes.'_

Her internal dialogue was cut short as Mark Jefferson entered the room with his usual confident swagger, he was a good lecturer, his knowledge on photography principles seemed perfect and he was very good at engineering situations that forced class participations, and his passion for the subject also made him almost as animated as Mr Keaton was about theatre, it made for interesting classes at very least.

"Welcome back everyone!" he began, "I hope you all had a better weekend than this old hipster." He joked, whatever her feelings about the man, he was popular with his students and there were never complaints from his class.

Unfortunately for Max, sleep deprivation and concern for the closest thing to a friend she had stolen away her ability to concentrate and the class passed by in worried haze as Max sat, desperately trying to unravel the mystery that was Kates depression.

It was towards the end of her class when a thrown ball of paper caught her attention, it sailed past in front of her as Jefferson's back was turned to strike Kate in the forehead before landing in the girl's lap. After a few seconds Kate unravelled the ball before scrunching it up again and throwing it away, tears threatening to escape her eyes. The paper ball landed near Max's foot but Kate would know if she grabbed it, Max hardly wanted to give her more reason to be upset. The smug grin of satisfaction on the face of Victoria's friend Taylor let Max know who she needed to have a little _chat_ with.

"- Max for example has an affinity for what is modernly referred to as the 'selfie'." Max caught her name and prepared herself, Jefferson had likely noticed her lack of focus and was about to 'include' her in the discussion.

"Of course, as you all know, the photo portrait has been popular since the early 1800's. Your generation was not the first to use images for…selfie-expression." He paused, as if only just realizing how lame the pun sounded. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. The point remains that the portraiture has always been a vital aspect of art, and photography, for as long as it's been around."

The man paused smirking humorously at her. "Now Max, since you've been raptly attentive all lesson and have most definitely NOT been staring into space for the last ten minutes, can you please tell us the name of the process that gave birth to the first self-portraits?"

It was a good thing Max was a week ahead in course readings.

"The Daguerreian process." She replied, thinking back on her late-night study, there was precious else to do when the night terrors forbade her sleep. "The French painter Louis Daguerre developed what became known as daguerreotypes which became popular for the clear, defined features it gave its subjects."

Jefferson didn't even look surprised, although he always seemed so sure of Max's ability as a photographer. She felt almost felt bad for her mysterious distaste of the man.

"Well done, you've obviously not been neglecting your readings." He replied with a smile before addressing the class as a whole. "The process made portraiture immensely popular for the very reason Max described, the rest of you can learn more when you actually finish reading the assigned chapters. Max is so far, way ahead of everybody."

Max did not miss the glare Victoria gave her, that girl had some serious issues.

The bell rang, signalling the end of the class and every student began to scramble their belongings together. Jefferson looked up at the clock as if in surprise that his tangents have taken so much time.

"And guys don't forget the deadline to submit a photo in the "Everyday Heroes" Contest." He called out in another attempt to generate interest in the assignment. "I will fly out with the winner to San Francisco where you'll be feted by the art world. It's great exposure and it can kickstart a career in photography. So, Stella and Alyssa, get it together. Taylor don't hide, I'm still waiting for your entry too." He spun around again to point at Max in an almost comical fashion. "And yes Max, I see you pretending not to see me."

Max used the commotion to snatch the crumpled paper ball from the floor before spreading it out as if it were another one of her papers. ' _Hey Kate, we love your porn video! Xoxo-Blackwell academy'_ it read. Max felt her blood begin to boil.

The note made no sense, Kate was a staunch advocate for abstinence and routinely attempted to bring others to her bible study sessions, there was no way she would so anything of the sort. ' _The party'_ she realised. ' _Maybe she got drunk at the party and went home with someone she shouldn't have, what the fuck was Dana doing? She was supposed to be with her the whole time.'_

Walking over to Kate, she attempted to bury the rage under her regular mask. The girl hadn't begun to leave yet.

"Hey Kate, what's up?" Max started before giving herself a mental kick, she was half tempted to rewind such a stupid generic greeting.

"Just thinking too much." The girl replied in a monotonous voice.

Trying to liven her up Max put on her best attempt at a grin. "I hear that, we still on for tea today?"

"Sorry, Max. I have to cancel, there's a lot of work for me to catch up on." ' _Damn'._

Proper smiles were a work in progress for Max.

"No worries then, we'll catch up later?" She replied, trying not to let sadness colour her voice.

Kate's muttered response was obviously a dismissal even to someone as socially untuned as Max and she decided it would be best to cut her losses and try again later.

"Max, could I see you a second?" Came Jefferson's voice as she attempted to leave the room, it seemed this day was out to test her patience.

With a sigh she turned and strolled towards him, the man probably wanted to talk to her about her contest submission, he had a strange vested interest in seeing her enter. Once more she was subject to a dirty look from Victoria as she was removed from Jefferson's immediate attention.

"Yes?" She prompted.

"I just wanted to speak to you about your contest entry, I couldn't stand to let one of photography's rising stars miss out on such an opportunity." He replied, confirming Max's suspicions.

"Don't worry Mr Jefferson, I've just recently had an epiphany about my entry and I'm going to change it up a bit, it shouldn't be much longer." She assured. It was the truth, during the weekend she had gotten an unshakable idea in her head about a possible entry, she just needed to take a lot more photos to make it possible.

Jefferson seemed surprised. "That's good to hear, I had worried that you were putting off entry for another reason."

"Nope, I wasn't completely happy with my existing stuff anyway, but It'll need a lot of work if I'm going to pull it off."

Jefferson smiled. "Best get to work then, the days are running short."

Finally free, Max pushed her way through the door into the busy hallway, the general cacophony of voices making it difficult to hear anything specific. But she did see the one person she wanted to see, Taylor stood alone on the opposite side of the hall absorbed in her phone, she could see the third stooge, Courtney, standing a way off chatting to some jock type, Max hardly paid attention to them.

Max strolled quickly across the hall, swinging her head side to side, when she was satisfied no one was paying attention she made her move.

"Hey, Taylor" She announced, prompting the blond to raise her head in confusion.

The confusion became shocked agony as Max's fist flashed out to jab her in the solar plexus, the girl's breath rushing out as she attempted to curl into a ball but only managed to lower her head to Max's shoulder as she stepped into the girl's space. To anyone watching it would appear a slightly awkward hug as max's arm came up to grip the back of Taylors head.

"In class, that thing with Kate? That was mean." She began as the girl was attempting to draw air into her lungs. "I don't know what your problem with Kate is, I don't care what your problem is, but you three have made her very upset. So, you are going to drop this and leave her alone, okay?"

She pulled the girls head up off her shoulder and placed her hand on her cheek, the girls wide, frightened eyes met Max's narrowed glare and she nodded profusely.

"Good girl." Max said, her glare softening into a false, deadly smile and her voice turned sickly sweet. "And if you don't, then that bloody nose I gave you a couple of weeks ago will be nothing compared to what I'll put you through." Max cocked her head, her smile growing. "I'll make you beg your parents to move you away. Are we clear?"

Taylor nodded again, looking faint.

"Great." Max patted Taylor's cheek. "Ciao, bella"

Max hated being like that, every act of that kind was a reminder that no matter how hard she tried, she was still that same monster that swept across Europe.

Quickly, she made her way down the hall, she really need a few seconds to recompose, today had been an exceptionally shitty day. Once again, the day tempted the beast inside as she caught sight of Daniel being pressed up against his locker by Logan and some other jock-strap.

' _I am not in the mood for this shit.'_ She thought darkly as she shouldered her way between the two and grabbed Daniel by the arm, his look of appreciation was undisturbed even as Max yanked him out and led him down the hall, an upraised middle finger the only response to the jock's shout.

"Run along now, I've got to use the little girls room." She said, sending him off with a slap on the rump. She didn't hear the boy thanking her, she really needed to be alone.

' _Thank dog.'_ She thought as she entered the bathroom to find it empty. She marched over to the sink and proceeded to liberally douse her face with water. ' _What a fucking day, I've got some super suspicious shit going down about Kate, my declining mental health and, to top it off, white knight duties because apparently I am the only person in the school not willing to put up with that shit_. _I swear to dog, I will just move back to Europe and tear down every last cartel, at least I'll do something good before I die.'_ Giving off an exasperated sigh, Max pushed herself away from the sink and made her way to the custodian area at the end of the bathroom and sank to the floor against the wall.

Not a second later the door opened again, Max was about to get up and leave before a muttering voice began to speak with itself.

"It's cool, Nathan... Don't stress... You're okay, bro. Just count to three... Don't be scared... You own this school... If I wanted, I could blow it up... You're the Boss..." Nathan's voice muttered as Max listened in disgust. The kid had issues that made hers seem desirable.

The sound of the door opening once more cut off his self-help session.

"So, what do you want?" Nathan Demanded.

"I hope you checked the perimeter, as my step-ass would say." The newcomer responded in a feminine voice. Max could hear her pushing open the bathroom stalls four. "Now, let's talk bidness."

Weird did not even begin to describe this situation.

"I got nothing for you." Nathan said in a forced even tone.

"Wrong." The newcomer cut in sharply. "You got hella cash."

"That's my family, not me."

The newcomer was having none of it. "Oh boo-hoo, poor little rich kid. I know you been pumping drugs and shit to kids around here on top of just dosing me... I bet your respectable family would help me out if I went to them. Man, I can see the headlines now."

"Leave them out of this, bitch!" Nathan's calm demeanour cracked.

Max climbed to her feet quietly, she didn't like where this was heading.

Once again, the newcomer pressed him. "I can tell everybody Nathan Prescott is a punk ass who tries to date rapes girls and talks to himself!"

There was a very short sound of scuffle and a dull thump.

"You don't know who the fuck I am or who you're messing around with!" Nathan's voice was a veritable snarl.

"Where'd you get that? What are you doing? Come on, put that thing down!"

Max was shocked, did Nathan bring a piece to school? Was he that reckless?

Nathan's voice continued to rise. "Don't ever tell me what to do. I'm so sick of people trying to control me!"

"You are going to get in hella more problems for this than drugs!"

Max risked a peep around the corner, true enough Nathan had a girl pushed up against the wall of the bathroom, a gun shoved into her stomach. The girl was tall but not tall enough for Max to make out much of her face from behind Nathan, the only details she could see was the girl's punk style and the wisps of blue hair.

"Nobody would ever miss your punk-ass, would they?" Came Nathan's voice.

Enough was Enough, Max stepped back into the custodian area and delivered a swift kick to the fire alarm, she'd give this _one_ chance to work out peacefully before she rewound and beat Nathan into a pulp, if that happened she would likely have to skip town.

A cluttering metal sound followed by the girl's voice yelling for Nathan to never touch her again was enough of a sign that disaster was temporarily averted, she would have to figure out some way of exposing Nathan, he was obviously too unstable to be around school.

Eventually she stepped out of the bathroom to an empty hallway, or rather it would have been if the head of security himself wasn't marching towards her.

"Hey! Don't you hear that alarm?" He began, "That means you should be outside."

' _No sir, I'm deaf_ _and_ _stupid you see…'_ "I was using the bathroom when the alarm went off," She began, rubbing her head in faux embarrassment. "I couldn't just…you know, run out."

The gambit worked, Madsen paused in surprise before his face scrunched up in an uncomfortable expression. "Yeah I- just get out. We need to do our sweeps."

Max almost laughed, who would have thought that the man would be so easy to fluster, perhaps she had misjudged him. She continued on towards the main doors, passing a confused looking Principal Wells. All she wanted to do was go back to her room, crash head-first into her bed and ignore the rest of this miserable day.

The universe never seemed to care what she wanted.

 _Bzzzz Bzzzzz_

Max stopped in her tracks and threw her head back in frustration. Whoever was messaging her, it better be good.

Warren: _Hi Max, can you get my flash drive? I need some info. And space._

' _Really? Two weeks and he picks today to get it back?'_ Max thought to herself. If she were honest with herself, it was well within his rights to want it back for a new week.

Warren: _You there?_

Max: _Sorry, it has been one hell of a day. I'll grab it now._

Warren: _I'll meet you in the lot._

Warren: _looking cool._

Warren: _You'll see_

' _Boy, I am not in the mood for your attempts at flirting.'_ The boy was likely to make another attempt to ask her out, she could feel it in her bones. ' _Okay, let's get this over with. One flash drive, coming right up.'_

Another thought occurred to Max. ' _Crazy rich kid running around with a gun and Dog knows what else, I'll be damned if i let him be the only one packing heat around here.'_ She had become too comfortable here, no longer carrying around her getaway bag or weapons. Recent events are making her regret that comfort, she'll have to be ready at any time now.

Old habits die hard.

* * *

The carton was empty. It was empty and still Chloe's hands refused to stop shaking, or the rest of her body for that matter. Her fingers drummed a rapid beat on the steering wheel of her truck as she sat there trying to force herself into some semblance of calm.

It wasn't working.

Even if she trusted herself to safely drive out of here it wasn't an option. Her truck was probably the most recognizable vehicle around town, if she tore out of the Academy's parking lot right after the fire alarm went off then there would be hell to pay when David found out. For now, she was stuck here on school grounds with her would be murderer, if anyone asked, she was still putting up Rachel's posters.

Everything was turning to shit, and things were never good to begin with. The last few months had seen Frank turn from grumpy to irritable to downright vicious, she didn't know what his problem was, but she was fast running out of time, soon Frank would lose his patience and start taking it out of her skin. That knowledge had driven Chloe to desperation, there were precious few ways to get cash fast in Arcadia and she had failed at every turn to raise more than a few hundred dollars.

Then she had gone to that bar. She hadn't recognized Nathan at first, he was not the shy weird kid she knew before she had been expelled, this older Nathan had sat in that bar bragging to anyone who would listen (and most who wouldn't) about how much money he had, like there was anyone in town who didn't already know. She had seen her chance, a drunk kid looking for attention and praise. A _rich_ drunk kid. She would be able to get some cash out of him, or she'd be able to steal it if push came to shove, a plan formed in her head and she took her chance.

She should've known she would fuck it up, what hadn't she fucked up in her short life? The plan ended up with her back at Nathan's dorm, a sudden bout of drowsiness, an undetermined period of time, and finally, with her stumbling out of the dorms determined to make the bastard pay.

' _And look how well that turned out'_ She thought derisively. She had no more money than she did before, she was no closer to finding Rachel, she had a psychopath out for her blood and now, the only possible way out was by going to David and Joyce for help. She thinks she just may prefer death. The inevitable yelling, declarations of how she was drugging herself to an early grave to be three grand in debt. Never mind that the money had nothing to do with drugs, they may not believe her but not even Chloe was stupid enough to get in that much drug debt. No, the money had been to fix her truck so that she and Rachel could finally blow this joint. Yet another plan that went to shit.

Her hand still shook. God she was scared.

She knew Nathan was fucked in the head, she had known that for years but to pull a gun on her? She didn't know what to do, no one would believe her, and even if some people did, it would be buried by the Prescott police as they may as well be called.

' _Unless…'_

Whoever hit the fire alarm saw it all happen. Chloe hadn't seen much over Nathan's shoulder as she was preoccupied with the gun shoved into her gut at the time but, she had seen a flash of red streaked hair tied in a braid at the end of the bathroom. It was a good thing she fucked up her perimeter check.

' _But where the hell am I going to find-'_

For the first time in recent memory, the universe smiled on Chloe as she saw the very same girl pausing at the entrance to the parking lot. Her clothes were achingly familiar, so close to Rachel's favoured style, a red flannel shirt worn over top of a white singlet, her legs were encased in denim styled tights and her shoes seemed to be the type normally favoured by climbers and runners. Last but not least, that familiar red streaked braid hung off the side of her head obscuring her face.

Chloe watched as the girl walked crossed the lot to speak to a girl sitting hunched over near the exit, it took Chloe a few seconds to recognize the girl as Juliet. It was hard to tell at the distance she was, but she looked like she was crying.

' _A regular white knight, I see.'_

After a few minutes Juliet got to her feet and left while the unknown girl continued on towards and impatient looking boy waiting next to what Chloe assumed was his car judging by how eagerly he was presenting it to the girl.

Chloe was reminded of that day so long ago that she and Rachel had stood up on a lookout overseeing the national park, the two girls had used the view finder to spy on the people about the park and make up their own narratives for them. She was half tempted to do so now with the mystery girl and her admirer. The boy was obviously into her, his body language said it all, the girl's body language however was not nearly so clear but if Chloe had to guess, she would say that she was trying to find the most polite way possible to get out of the conversation. The boy was persistent though, and he managed to keep her there until another boy came barrelling across the parking lot towards them.

' _Shit!'_ Chloe panicked as she realized the that the boy was Nathan, she had her key halfway ready to start her car before she saw that Nathan wasn't here for her. He was heading on a bee-line towards Max. How the boy knew she was the one to sound the alarm, Chloe didn't know but she had to do something, if Nathan still had his gun who knew what he would do.

Credit to her, the girl didn't even flinch as Nathan got into her space despite the fact Nathan was probably five inches taller. Chloe couldn't make out the words being said from her truck, but she could hear the tone of their conversation, it was not a polite one. The girl's friend attempted to stand in and push Nathan away but all he got for his trouble was a vicious head-butt that threw him from his feet. He then rounded on the girl once again, his hand out as if to grab her.

The girl _moved._

Chloe couldn't describe it any other way, it was so fast it looked as if she had simply blinked out of reach like a video-game hero, she grabbed Nathan's outstretched hand and yanked him forward while ducking under his arm, ending up behind the taller boy and torqueing his arm at a painful angle. Then she grabbed the back of Nathan's head and brought it down sharply onto her friend's car bonnet. And again. The altercation ended swiftly with the girl lifting her dazed attacker and whispering something into his ear while her hand patted at the boy's waistline, probably searching for a gun, Chloe recognized. A final, insulting boot to the backside sent Nathan careening into the bush behind the cars.

' _Holy shitballs, what the fuck did I just see?'_

Further mental commentary was cut off as the mystery girl stormed off, leaving her friend watching in astonishment from his seated position on the ground. The girl arrived at an old but well-maintained Nissan and threw the door open before revving the car up and tearing out of the lot.

Chloe followed not a second later, she had never seen the girl before and doubted she would just chance upon the girl again. She was well aware of how creepy this situation was, Chloe had gone full blown stalker on this one. Thankfully, Arcadia bay was a small town and there was nothing overly suspicious about two people taking a small trip through town too…

…The beach, it turns out. Chloe kept driving a little further down pulled up, she could just make out the girl's silhouette disappear over the small dunes. The girl moved fast.

Taking her time, Chloe made her way steadily to the top of the dunes. They were not far down the beach at all, it wouldn't tale a minute to walk to the docks from here, the girl herself stood down by the water, staring out at the low tide, Chloe could see the tension radiating off her even from where she stood. The girl picked up a stone, turning it over in her hands before hurling it out over the sea to skip a half dozen times.

Chloe knew the ritual, she herself had partaken many times when she was younger and the stress began to be too much, Max had often accompanied her and they would spend hours skipping stones across the water. The memory didn't hurt as much as she thought it would.

She decided it would be best to lead in with a thank-you, the girl had saved her life after all, Chloe owed her big-time, she could use a little rock-skipping session herself. Unfortunately, fate decided to spit in her face once more and she barely made it two steps before the girl made a sudden turn and marched towards the docks.

Confused, Chloe followed trying to catch up, but she lost sight of the girl as she disappeared in the maze of support posts and concrete slabs that were exposed by the low-tide. Chloe didn't hesitate to enter in after her, she needed to talk to her about Nathan…and she _wanted_ to talk to her, if only to thank her.

Had she no had such a stressful day, perhaps she would have given it a second thought before following, perhaps she would have considered how strange it was for the girl to suddenly decide she wanted to explore under the dock…out of view of people.

It was too late to consider things now, not with cold steel pushed against the back of her head and the distinctive _click_ of a pistol hammer being cocked.

"You're following me." The girl spoke from behind her, her voice like ice. "You have ten seconds to convince me you have a good reason." Impossibly, her voice grew colder. "I have had a _very_ shitty day, do not test me."

"I…I" Chloe sputtered, trying to force coherent words with an uncooperative tongue. "I just wanted to say thank-you!"

"You stalked me across town and under the docks to say 'thank-you'?" The girl asked incredulously.

"….Well, when you put it like that…" Great, now she looked like a complete tool.

"Shit. I figured you came to give me the 'keep your mouth shut' talk." The girl began as Chloe heard the gun being lowered. "Look, I'm sorry about that, I am not in the best frame of mind. Do you think we can keep this between you and I?"

"Yeah, I mean you did save my-" Chloe began as she turned to look at her before the words caught in her throat.

The first thing to register was the scars, four scars stood proudly across her cheek, eyebrow and temple, as close as they were, Chloe could make out another half dozen smaller ones. The second thing she noticed was the freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks, Chloe had always had a thing for freckles. Ocean blue eyes regarded her from underneath thin brows, the same eyes were opened wide with shock, mirroring Chloe's expression.

The face was older, it was different, but no amount of time would change it beyond Chloe's ability to recognize, she still saw that face in her dreams. It was Max Caulfield; her friend was alive.

And her friend was crying.

There was a muffled _thud_ as the gun dropped from her fingers, her shaking hands coming up to mouth as she stumbled back a few steps. The shock had faded from her eyes to be replaced with fear.

"Chloe…Oh my god I'm so sorry Chloe!" She cried, her voice heavy with shame.

"It's okay." Chloe soothed, trying to push aside her own shocked disbelief. She looked like she was on the verge of a complete break-down.

"I didn't know…I'm so sorry." Max repeated as her gaze switched between Chloe's face and her own hands.

"Max, it's okay!" Chloe said more forcefully. She watched in confusion as Max raised her right hand, palm outstretched. She kept it raised for the span of a few seconds, her face a mask of indecision before it dropped limply to her side.

Then she practically launched herself at Chloe, wrapping her in a startlingly tight hug and burying her face into Chloe's neck, her chest heaving as she sobbed. Chloe wrapped her arms around her friend, cradling her and rocking back and forth, she didn't trust herself to talk.

Then it hit her. _'Max is alive! She's here with me…Please god don't let this be a dream!'_

Her knees buckled and the two dropped to their knees in the damp sand, she felt as if a weight had been taken from her shoulders and she wondered if she might float away. She couldn't stop the tears from flowing, she didn't think she would if she could.


	4. Train-wrecks and Commercials

**A/N:**

Gidday everyone. Back with the last chapter i'll release before uni starts up. I'm not sure how much time i'll have to write as it will be my last semester. This chapter was a mission to write and it's the first time I've had so much dialogue, i'm not quite sure how much justice I've done it. But anyway, feel free to tell me what you liked and what you didn't, any advice in writing dialogue would be greatly appreciated if you notice something off.

This is also probably the last chapter that will follow the events of the game this closely, I've gotta get this AU started eventually.

As always, this story contains dark themes and implications.

* * *

 **October 7th 2013**

A great man once said: 'Life is an endless series of train-wrecks with only brief, commercial-like breaks of happiness in between'. For the most part, Chloe agreed with the assessment, if it's not family deaths, it's missing friends, if it's not a douche-bag step dad, it's scumbag school officials. Chloe would be one of the first to proclaim that on the whole life sucked and the few good times you get fail to make up for it.

But right then, sitting on the beach in the late afternoon sun with her arms wrapped around her long-lost friend, Chloe hoped this particular commercial break would last forever.

She felt Max shiver a little and pulled the blanket more firmly around them, it was more for comfort rather than heat retention. There hadn't been many words so far and she was fine with that, she certainly had a million and one questions bubbling away in her head but she would wait for Max to be ready, she had only just finished shaking.

' _What happened to you Max? You were the biggest pacifist I knew and now you're pulling guns on people just for following you'._ Chloe knew people changed, but the degree here was almost unbelievable.

' _As unbelievable as your best friend coming back from the dead after four years, saving your life in a school bathroom and then almost shooting you herself?'_ She thought sarcastically, it seemed anything was possible in this world.

Slowly, Chloe reached out to pat her scrunched up jacket beside her, making sure she could feel the metallic weight of Max's gun wrapped inside it, Max had thus far refused to even touch the gun and Chloe was unsure exactly what she should do with it.

' _She really was prepared to shoot me wasn't she….'_ She took another look at the girl in her arms, Max's back was pressed against Chloe's chest, her arms wrapped around herself while Chloe hugged her from behind. ' _She's taking it way worse than I am, what do I do?'_

Thankfully, waiting seemed to have been the right choice as her friend leaned back from her hunched position with a deep breath.

"This isn't a dream, is it?" She whispered.

Chloe wasn't sure how to take that. "Nope, trust me, I've been pinching myself and everything."

Max sighed. "I'm sorry Chloe."

"Dude, you've apologized like a million times already, it's ok."

Max craned her head back to gaze at Chloe out of the corner of her eye. "I meant about my little freak out here and going all catatonic."

"Oh." _'That makes sense'_

There was an awkward, pregnant pause as the two girls resumed staring at the ocean, neither one knowing what to say.

"So, elephant in the room…. beach, whatever." Chloe blurted eventually, never the one to beat around the bush.

"Yeah, that thing." Max s agreed dryly.

"Max…I thought you were dead." Suddenly there were tears in her eyes again and she couldn't decide which questions to ask. "Why didn't you… Where did you…I mean…Shit, I can't even word right now."

Max sighed again. "I know, there's a lot of explaining to do. It's a really long story."

"I've got time." It was true, even if Chloe had anything resembling a schedule, there was nothing more important to her right now.

"I guess you do, dog knows I'd want to hear the story if I were you." Max conceded. "I'll give you the short hand otherwise we'll be here until Christmas."

' _Dog?'_ Chloe thought to herself, ' _Five years later and you still won't say "god", somethings don't change.'_

Max pulled away, slowly spinning around to face her. Her face was a mask of indecision.

"It's not a happy story, you really want to hear this?" Max asked.

"I know it's not Max, but I want to hear it." She replied.

"Where do I start?" She began, her eyes losing focus as she dredged up bad memories. "It was December…2008? Whatever year it was that we moved away…I was still arguing a lot with Mom and Dad, I wanted to move back here, and they wanted me to give Seattle a chance. Anyway, I told them I was going to work on my photography assignment and I went out to take some photos because that's my answer to everything. I ended up in the old factory district because I followed a bunch of birds and butterflies and they wouldn't hold still for me."

' _That it so…. Max'_ Chloe smiled to herself.

Max continued. "I stumbled across this warehouse are where people were holding drugs and girls to be smuggled out of the port, I heard noises, so I went to investigate. You can imagine how that turned out for me, I got taken along for the ride."

Chloe's heart began to beat harder, she figured that it went somewhat along those lines, but It was one thing to reason that it was so and another to hear it from the source.

"I was on the boat for weeks in a cramped shipping container, I don't remember all of it because I got sick when this got infected." She reached up to run a finger across the prominent scar adorning her temple. "I can't say where they took us or when, I couldn't understand the languages half the time, and nobody bothered to talk to us obviously. Eventually I ended up in Croatia in a…like a brothel sort of place. I don't think I need to explain what went on there."

Chloe shook her head. The mere thought of her friend having to go through that made her shake with impotent rage.

"Went on like that for months." Max paused for a moment, her jaw working silently. "Right up until Mega storm Ares rolled on through and destroyed the place, the storm pretty much killed everyone else there."

"How did you survive? The news said that was the biggest storm on record." Chloe asked, she remembered clearly seeing the news about mega-storm 'Ares', so big they literally named it after the god of war.

Max barked out a humourless laugh. It was not a nice sound. "They put me in 'the hole' a day or so before, it was a repurposed bunker of sorts. I stabbed one of the clients to death, I'm surprised they didn't shoot me the moment they caught me to be honest."

Chloe didn't know what to say, what _do_ you say when your friend talks about killing people in the same tone of voice as one would normally discuss weather.

Her thoughts must have shown on her face because Max quickly continued with her story in a more reserved tone. "After that I just… travelled, I followed the trail of destruction down towards Greece, it was easy to pretend to be another shell-shocked survivor."

"You didn't try to come home? Like go to the police or an embassy or something?" Chloe asked, it was the first thing she would have done.

"No…I wasn't in a good place Chloe." Max snorted again. "Shit, I'm still not, I didn't want to go home, I wanted blood."

"Out for blood? How would you…" A blurry memory flashed through her mind from one of the worst days of her life. _News reports. Traffickers dead. Corrupt officials murdered. Terror bombings. The Storm_ "Oh my god. You joined the Storm, didn't you?"

Max's face paled and again her face took on that indecisive look. "If you're referring to 'Oluja' then eventually, yeah."

Once again, Chloe found herself staring with nothing to say, it was so much to process.

"Look, I'm not proud of a lot of things okay?" Max started defensively, surging to her feet. "You weren't there, you don't know what it's like."

"Whoa! I'm not judging Max!" Chloe said as she too got to her feet. "It's just a lot to take in okay? I understand why you'd want those fuckers to pay."

Max stared at her for as the seconds passed, calming herself with deep breaths. Slowly she lost her defensive posture.

"Sorry…It's just…Complicated." Max said as she turned away to face the ocean. "I obsessed over finding those people for years, I couldn't sleep, I didn't care about anyone outside of their usefulness. I thought that if I found them all and…helped bring the whole organization down, that I'd be free, that it'd be over."

Chloe made her way to Max's side, she could see the tear tracks running down her friend's face.

"I'm even more broken than I was before, it's just different nightmares that keep me up at night. I feel like there's some monster inside me, I get angry _all_ the time, like it's always lurking below the surface, I almost made Taylor piss herself today because she threw a mean note at my friend in class." Max threw a hand in the air, "Who does that?"

"I'd do that." Chloe said quietly.

Max turned her head to stare at her with a questioning gaze.

"I once drugged Victoria because she tried to fuck around with my friend…I mean It was the same drug Victoria tried to use, I just switched the cups but still…" Chloe confessed. She didn't regret it one bit.

Max cracked a smile; the first real smile Chloe had seen from her.

"You don't have to be like you were when we were kids, I'm sure as hell not. People change Max, for better or worse, we just have to make the best of it." Chloe said, throwing an arm around Max.

"I though I'd have to before I could get you and my parents back in my life." Max replied in a small voice. She was silent for almost a minute before she smirked up at Chloe. "You know, you're gonna lose your cynical punk cred if you keep being so deep and introspective."

"Never gonna happen batmax." She replied, waving a dismissive hand. "I'll say anything if it means you won't disappear again." She was only half joking.

"I couldn't leave you again if I tried." Max said as she leaned into Chloe. "I feel like I'm going crazy trying to play the part of a normal student, right now is the most normal I've felt in years."

Chloe couldn't contain her smile. "You're welcome! Dr price in the house, world's leading expert on Maxology."

"Nerd." Max mumbled, elbowing her in the ribs. "Listen, I still really want to go back to my dorm and hide away for a while."

' _Oh'_ It made sense, even the few details Chloe knew hinted that today had not been kind to her. It still stung.

"Oh, don't give me the sad face." Max continued, rolling her eyes. "I was going to ask you to come with me, maybe even a sleep over for old time's sake?"

Chloe's mood pulled a complete 180 to near giddy happiness. "Fuck yeah! It'll be hella awesome!"

"Okay, cool but there are two house rules. First, my name is Maxine Sartori, at Blackwell we can't tell people we are childhood friends, it would be really awkward to lie our way out of that." She began.

It made sense, Max would definitely leave if she got found out.

"Second, if we run into Nathan, or shit goes sideways for another reason, let me handle it."

"Aye, aye captain!" Chloe mock saluted.

Max smiled a second time, Chloe was on a roll. "I've got no food though, so pizza first."

Chloe almost skipped her way back to her truck; this commercial break was far from over.

\- 0-0-

"Dorm sweet dorm." Chloe heard Max say as she shuffled through the doorway, careful not to upset the balance of the pizza and sides that were balanced in her arms.

"Where do I put these?" She asked, the boxes were becoming uncomfortably hot.

"Put them down on my desk, just not on my books if you can help it." Max replied from the door way.

Chloe was forced to very carefully set down her pile as she noticed just how many books were scattered and stacked on the desk, she could see English books, Biology, physics and pretty much every other subject at black-hell. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she noticed that many of the books were junior-high level text-books ranging all the way up to twelfth grade.

"Damn Max, you got hella books lying around." She observed.

"Oh?" Max replied, glancing at her miniature library as she grabbed a handful of fries. "I didn't exactly attend school in Europe, I managed to teach myself some things, but they were only for…specific purposes."

"Like what?" Chloe asked curiously.

"Mostly languages, everyone over there grows up speaking a few, so I spent a long time trying to at least be able to understand a few." Max said.

"That's sick, it'd be cool to speak another language, you could talk shit about someone right next to you and they'd never know!" Chloe said as she went to open the window, she might need a smoke soon. "What else?"

Max scratched her head nervously. "Stuff…like Chemistry as far as I needed to make bombs, Math to a certain extent, Psychology as well. Most stuff didn't really fit under a specific subject like tracing through financial records and cross-referencing them and stuff…"

Chloe had to remind herself to close her mouth. _'Of course she learned some scary stuff you idiot.'_

"Man, you learn all this super-spy stuff by yourself?" She asked, "How did you have enough time for all this shit?"

"I have more time on my hands than most." Max replied, smirking as if at a private joke. "But it was hardly comprehensive, that's why I still need these books, whenever I don't know something I have to go back a few years and learn the basic stuff."

"That's hardcore Max." Chloe stated, impressed.

"I'm used to pushing myself, I don't sleep much anyway so I may as well use that time." Max said.

"I did notice the bags." Chloe said, pointing at the area under her own eyes.

"Ha!" Max barked out a sardonic laugh, "Bags, sunken eyes, scars everywhere, it's a good thing I have my _winning personality_."

"Some girls like scars." Chloe countered attempting to lighten the mood, she didn't like hearing Max talk down on herself.

"Hmm. They're gonna love me, I got them in spades." Max said as she got to her feet. "Anyway, give me a sec; I need to use the bathroom, I've been holding this all day."

"Ew Max." She said as Max left the room, nevertheless, she caught herself watching her hips sway on the way out. ' _No,_ _bad Chloe!'_

With nothing better to do, Chloe found herself wandering around the room inspecting Max's space. It seemed almost…artificial, Chloe remembered Rachel and the organized chaos that was her room even though she was a very tidy person by nature. Max's room by contrast seemed too perfectly kept, the posters and various decorations were perfectly aligned, only the desk and bed seemed like they saw frequent use. It occurred to Chloe that Max may not have much by way of hobbies. She would have to change that.

A large collage of photos on the wall above her beanbag chairs caught her eye, they were organized into a rough grid although if it was supposed to be a grid then it was incomplete. Each photo was of a different person, one she recognized as officer Berry playing ball with some kids outside the Two-Whales, another was of the local fire-fighters during their drills, another showed a man in the local park running with a toddler on his shoulders. Chloe couldn't see an obvious patter and resolved to ask Max about it later.

Eventually Chloe decided it was indeed time for a smoke and made her way to the window to light up. As the nicotine ran its course Chloe's mind couldn't help but turn to their conversation at the beach, her friend had changed and, in many ways not for the better. She shuddered to think of how horrible the past five years must have been for her, it made Chloe uncomfortably aware of how easy her last half decade had been in comparison.

' _To spend some many years hunting people down one by one….'_ She thought to herself sadly before another thought occurred to her. ' _Hunting people down…Tracking them, she knew nothing about those people but she still found them. If Rachel is out there, Max can help me find her!'_

She hoped her friend would help, she didn't think Max would refuse but the girl was fixated on being a normal girl again, Chloe wondered if it was even possible to be 'normal' if you were actively trying so hard, would that effort not make you abnormal?

It wasn't long before her cigarette burned out and she was left leaning against the window. The bright flower on Max's plant caught her eye and she soon found herself tracing the stem of the strange plant and admiring the rough texture under her fingers.

"Her name's Lisa." Max said from behind her and Chloe jumped, she hadn't heard the door open.

"Lisa?" Chloe repeated.

"Yeah. Mom used to name some of her plants, she always said a house wasn't a home unless you had a few plants. I bought Lisa just after I moved in, it seemed right." Max said.

"That's actually pretty sweet of you." Chloe replied with a smile.

Max gave a light snort. "Anyway, pizza's getting cold, let's nosh."

In a few seconds they found themselves sitting opposite each other as they dug into their dinner, Chloe was never one to worry about appearances and dug into her food with her regular gusto but she had nothing on Max, the other girl tore into her pizza like a starving animal, hardly pausing to swallow as she stuffed more pizza into her mouth.

Chloe couldn't contain her laugh. "Whoa there Mad Max, the pizza's not going to run away."

Max's face turned a slight pink shade as she put her pizza down and wiped her hands off on a paper towel. The girl got to her feet and walked over to 'Lisa' before removing a metal case from underneath the plant and returning to take a seat.

"What you got there?" Chloe asked, her curiosity piqued.

"Oh, not much." Max replied as she withdrew a bag of familiar green herb and rolling papers. "Don't suppose I could interest you?"

"Fuck yes, you could" She replied with a massive grin.

Another ten minutes passed and the room was filled with the scent of pizza, fries and weed, the combination of which Chloe found to be almost addictive in and of itself. Soon she was looking at Max, chewing on her lip and wondering how she should go about asking for her help.

"Something on your mind?" Max asked as she took another drag before handing the joint to Chloe.

"Yeah…I wanted to ask for your help." Chloe said, her uncertainty leaking into her voice.

Max cocked her head. "Of course I'll help you Chloe, what do you need?"

Chloe took a drag on the joint to steel herself. "I have this friend, I've probably mentioned her a few times…She went missing months ago and I can't find anything, I don't know if she ran away or if something happened to her."

"Rachel Amber." Max breathed, her eyes widening.

"Yeah." Chloe confirmed, "you've noticed my posters huh?"

"Those were yours?" Max asked before shaking her head, "Yeah they're impossible to miss, I've asked around and most people think she ran away to L.A"

"Yeah, it was always our plan." Chloe said. "But she wouldn't have just left without me, she said she had met someone and she had a plan to get us out of here. Then she disappeared."

"And the police haven't found anything?" Max asked.

"Pfft, please. Those dickholes couldn't wipe their own ass without a map. Rachel's dad is the DA and he's convinced she ran away to her biological mother, he's got the police convinced as well. The guy's in denial."

Max hummed to herself before responding. "First place to check would be her dorm room but it's probably been cleaned out right?"

Chloe nodded in confirmation.

"What about her parent's house?" She questioned.

"No, she never really spoke to her parents after…it's a long story for another day but she barely went home."

Max nodded, her eyes distant. "Okay, still worth having a look sometime. She was popular?"

Chloe huffed with amusement. "That's an understatement."

"Vortex club then, they throw parties, maybe she met this mystery person there." She got up and retrieved a notebook from her bedside table. "Nathan especially, you said he dosed you before he pulled the gun on you?"

Chloe nodded before she watched her leaf through the book, she could make out pages of notes as Max flicked through to find a clear space.

"I assume she does drugs sometimes?" She asked without looking up.

"Yeah, everyone gets their stuff from Frank, he's the only real dealer around here. We used to be pretty close for a while." Chloe said, the last bit mostly to herself.

"Alright, him too." Max replied as she dotted down notes on her paper.

Suddenly Max let out a deep sigh. "Chloe…"

"Yeah?" She responded, apprehensive.

"You have to consider the possibility that…Rachel is dead." Max said looking her directly in the eye.

A flash of indignant anger took Chloe and she got to her feet. "Bullshit, she's too smart for that, she wouldn't have gotten herself into that much trouble!"

"Chloe, six months is a long time, the most likely possibilities are nothing good." Max insisted.

"So we just give up? I gave up on you Max and you were alive this whole time, Rachel has to be out there!" Chloe was barely able to keep her voice below a yell.

"Not everyone is me!" Max said urgently as she jumped to her feet and grabbed Chloe's hands. "I'm not saying she is definitely dead, I'm not saying we should give up at all. We _will_ find out what happened to her Chloe but if you don't prepare for the worst then it will break you."

Chloe looked down at their joined hands, her pale, smooth hands contrasted sharply with max's, the other girl's hands were darker, proportionally thick wrists jutted out from the sleeves of her flannel shirt and her hands were spotted with scars and burns, particularly on her knuckles. Another reminder of a hard life, a life that forced her to accept reality in all its harshness.

"You're right." She eventually replied, realizing she had been staring at her hands an uncomfortable length of time. "Part of me reminds me of it every day but I'm not going to stop looking for her."

"And I'll be right there with you." Max pledged. "But we play this smart, if someone is involved in her going missing we can't make them suspicious."

"Alright supermax, I'll follow your lead." Chloe said, slumping back down into her sleeping bag.

The rest of the night progressed as well as Chloe could have hoped for, they ate, they smoked and they ate some more. As the sun set and the room became darker, Max pulled out her laptop insisting they watched blade runner. True to form, Chloe made it a little over halfway before she fell asleep.

The room was dark when she awoke, she didn't have any way of telling the time, only that her head was still fuzzy, whether it was because she was still high or simply because she was just waking up she couldn't tell.

A small whimper startled her and she realized she was in Max's bed, her friend was curled up close enough for Chloe to feel the heat radiating off her. Max gave another short whimper and curled herself up even tighter, it sounded suspiciously like she was crying.

"Max?" Chloe said in a small whisper and she reached out her hand to touch her friends shoulder.

She was hot. Part of her wanted to make the observation that she fit the definition in more than one way but the larger part of her frowned in concern, Max was also dripping with sweat. Chloe lay there next to her friend trying to decide if she should wake her, she didn't know if Max was prone to freaking out but she _did_ know that Max had that huge bowie knife strapped under her bed, well within reach.

Thankfully she was saved from having to make the decision as Max surged upwards with a choked sob, Chloe listened as her friend sat for minutes trying to calm her breathing sounding like she had just run a marathon. She was almost convinced she could hear the girl's heart pounding.

Eventually Max got up from the bed and left the room. Tentatively Chloe reached out and touched the bed where Max had slept, the sheets were damp and as warm as Max had been. She wanted to stay up and make sure the other girl was okay but she found herself drifting off as the minutes passed.

She gave her own moan of complaint some time later when the mattress shifted under her.

"Sorry Chlo-bear." Came a tired whisper.

"Mmff, you k?" Chloe attempted.

Max didn't reply immediately, it was too dark to see any features on her face. "Just needed the bathroom."

Chloe just hummed, she wasn't in any state to call her out. Besides, it's not like she ever discussed her dreams with anyone, not even Rachel. In either case, she once again found herself slipping away.

Another undetermined period of time passed for Chloe before she was woken by yet another whimper, Max was once again curled into a ball, Chloe's slight touch found her muscles tense like iron under the girl's skin. She was no stranger to nightmares. Her father, Rachel and even Max had been common features in her own, taunting her or leaving her forever but Max's night-terrors seemed beyond anything Chloe had felt or heard of. She wondered how Max got any sleep at all.

Never one to watch while her friends were hurting, she shuffled up behind her friend and slipped her arms around her pulling her close. Max whimpered again in protest and Chloe pulled her even closer, she moved her face to brush against the short hair on the side of her head and planted a small kiss on what turned out to be the scar across her temple.

"It's okay supermax." She whispered.

Slowly but surely she felt Max settle, the taut muscles relaxing as she uncurled. Chloe had a few minutes to contemplate how awkward it would be to explain their position in the morning before she fell asleep for the last time that night.

* * *

For most people the act of waking was normally accompanied by the sensation of drowsiness, the body purging the chemicals that aided sleep from the body. Max was not most people, years of paranoia had forced the young woman to become a very light sleeper despite how little she achieved sleep. It was then a strange and unwelcomed sensation she woke to as her eyes blearily opened to regard her room. It took her sleep addled mind a further few seconds to comprehend the fact she could see, the sun was up and she had yet to rise, it was a novel situation for a girl who rarely slept past five.

There was also a strange sight to wake up to, a pale arm stretched out in front of her face, yet it refused to respond to her commands. Suddenly she was acutely aware of the heat against her back and the second arm wrapped almost possessively around her waist, it was only the realization that Chloe had spent the night with her that stopped her from reacting rashly.

Unfortunately, this realization had another effect on her. She was all too aware of her friend's body pressed against her, how soft her skin was. Long suppressed desires for this exact scenario were pulled to the forefront of her mind, the situation was not helped at all by Chloe's hot breath on the back of her neck.

' _I was sweating like a pig last night.'_ She thought, deciding it would be best to shower now lest she begin to stink during the day.

As quietly as possible she extracted herself from Chloe's arms before gathering her things. She marvelled at how different it felt to be preparing for the day along with the rest of the girls and by the looks on some of their faces as she entered the hallway, it was surprising to them too.

She was halfway down the hall before she realized that this is the first time she had bared this much skin in public, she was acutely aware that she was showing more scars to people she didn't have any level of trust for.

' _Own it Max! Wear them like armour.'_ She berated herself, it was too late to go back now.

The door to the toilets opened up while she was paused in the hallway, a head and arm emerged from the doorway. The girl in question had a roll of toilet paper in hand and looked set to throw it before her eyes met Max's. She was aware that many students were uncomfortable around her but she surprised when the girl squeaked in shock and retreated hastily back into the room.

A confused Max continued on towards the showers muttering a greeting to Alyssa as she passed, it was likely the bigger girl had been the target, people were always quick to pick on her.

It was a pleasant surprise for Max to see Kate as she entered the shower room, her shorter friend did not look any better but at least she hadn't needed Max to wake her up. She put on her best attempt at a friendly smile and approached the girl, Kate stared unseeingly into the mirror as she brushed her teeth, obviously lost in her thoughts.

"Morning Kate, how are you feeling today?" She asked.

Kate startled a little as she realized someone was addressing her. "I'm here I guess. Thanks for standing up to Mr Madsen yesterday."

In truth Max regretted how she went about that, dressing down the head of security was not one of her proudest moments but seeing him reducing Kate to tears had incensed her and it was all she could do to not physically attack the man. It was just one more event that had set her up to collapse in front of Chloe.

"No problem Kate, don't let anyone walk over you because I won't." She replied.

"Or you'll walk over them?" Kate's monotonous voice asked.

Max took a step back, unable to think of a response.

"Do you still have my copy of 'The October Country'?" Kate continued.

"Ah yeah, of course."

"Would you mind bringing it to my room later?"

"Sure thing Kate." She said attempting another smile, she dropped it immediately as she caught sight of the ugly expression she saw reflected in the mirror. She really needed to work on her smiles.

Sensing her dismissal, Max quickly entered one of the cubicles and jumped under the streaming water as soon as possible. The minutes passed by as she enjoyed the sensation of near-scalding water running down her form, hot showers had been a luxury during her time in Europe, she rarely stayed in nice enough places. The sound of the door slamming cut her from her thoughts and she made out the last voices she wanted to hear at this point.

' _It was such a nice morning…'_

"I know Nathan hooked her up. And you know he has the good shit." She heard Victoria say.

' _Hooked up who? Kate?'_

"Preach it sister." Came Taylor's voice, it lacked the normal confidence she had when kissing Victoria's ass.

"Max-selfie thought she was so cool taking that damned picture of me yesterday, I should've beat her down." Came Victoria's voice again. Max felt that same anger, like a beast stirring within her.

"It wasn't cool, but you shouldn't talk like that Victoria." Taylor's voice was quite nervous now.

"What's gotten into you Taylor? You've been acting weird since yesterday. You taking that bitch's side?"

"Please Tori, I think we should-"

"-No…let her finish." Max interrupted as she pulled aside her curtain. "She's got me curious."

She must've been quite the sight, naked and leaning against the cubicle wall, a small part of her was screaming at herself for exposing her body like this but it was drowned out by the monster that was pushing its way to the surface.

"You…Put some damned clothes on!" Victoria sputtered, her face reddening.

Max just quirked a brow at Taylor. "Ciao bella. Have you forgotten our talk already?"

The girl ran from the room.

' _Too much?'_

"What the- What did you do to her?" Victoria demanded.

"Me? Oh, we just had a little talk about bullying outside of Jefferson's class yesterday." Max slowly stepped towards her. Victoria took a step back.

Red lipstick on the mirror drew Max's attention, ' _'_ was written boldly across the glass. The lipstick in Victoria's hand confirmed her guilt. The monster inside her raised it's ugly head. As fast as the eye can follow, Max's hand snapped out to grab Victoria by the collar and she saw the instinctive slap coming from a mile away, once upon a time it would have landed and Max would have to rewind and intercept it. Times change.

Max grabbed her wrist in a painfully tight grasp just inches from her face. "Tell me more about this beat down I'm supposed to get."

"I've taken Karate all my life." Victoria boasted, desperately trying to hold onto her failing confidence.

A kick struck the side of Max's leg. She raised a brow at Victoria. The kick had no leverage and had struck with all the force of a pool noodle.

' _Obviously not long enough…'_

"That's impressive… Should I go and get some wooden boards so you can show me?" Max mocked.

Victoria didn't say anything. Max could see her mask breaking.

"Look _Tori_ , I know you're not very bright so I'm going to make this as simple as I can." Max began before yanking her by her collar so that her face was pressed against the mirror. "This here? This video goes down today…or you do. Either one is good for me."

The beast demanded that she keep going, that she ram the bitch's head through the mirror, make sure she never shows her face in public again, Scar Victoria like _they_ scarred her-

It was almost a physical effort to push the voice down. Luckily the grimace on her face only served to scare the girl further. She let go of the shaken girl, she very nearly fell to the floor the moment max let her go.

"Go on." Max told her, shooing her towards the door. "Be a smart girl."

Max had never seen such dignified scrambling.

Once again the self-loathing came crashing down on her, she couldn't help it, the rage came and went leaving her with an empty feeling she knew would persist throughout the day. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and she froze, Max hated mirrors, even going as far as to cover hers up when she didn't need it, she hated seeing her scarred body, a constant reminder that she was disfigured. She could see the pitying gazes now, the brief disgusted look on their faces before they remembered that society demands they pretend they don't see them.

She couldn't hide the scars on her face but she made every effort to cover the rest, the burn marks and poorly stitched cuts, the ugly puckered bullet wounds that had very nearly claimed her life and worst of all, the disgusting thick stripes across her back. All permanent reminders of a life she so desperately wished to forget.

And a depressingly accurate reflection of who she was.

One particular reminder was of her own making. The skin from her left shoulder to her mid forearm was covered in an intricate tattoo, vines wrapped around the limb interspaced with various landmarks she had seen in her travels, small skulls were dotted across the tattoo, each one depicted with a small knife impaled on it and two letters written across the temple. The initials of them men and women she killed. The ones whose names were important enough to remember anyway.

At least that reminder was one she _chose._

A small voice from a still closed cubicle interrupted her thoughts. "Man…you are _scary_."

Max sighed and pushed herself away from the mirror. "Yeah. I am."

She left the showers feeling like she needed another. She slipped quickly and quietly into her room, managing to dress herself, get Kate's book and leave all without waking Chloe. Max would've attributed it to her infiltration skills if Chloe hadn't always been one to sleep like a rock.

For the second day in a row Max found herself outside Kates room, this time with a book in hand. She knocked on the door hoping that whatever Victoria and her cronies said hadn't hit her too hard. Kate's dull voice telling her to enter was not a good sign.

"One book order for a Kate Marsh." Max announced, deciding to try and channel her inner Chloe, the girl's antics had worked thus far on her.

Kate just motioned her towards the seat opposite hers.

"Max, why did you step in with Mr Madsen yesterday?" She asked.

The question threw Max for a second. "How could I not?"

Kate just stared at her, obviously not impressed with her answer.

"You're my friend, Kate." She admitted. "You are the only person in Blackwell I actually trust. I don't know if you understand how much that means to me."

Kate looked shocked at the admission. "I didn't know you cared so much."

Max grimaced, she knew she was bad with people but not _this_ bad. "I know I'm bad at showing it and I don't open up about anything, but I do care about you Kate."

"Thank you, Max." The girl was quiet for a few seconds. "He was growling me about being part of the vortex club, as if I'm the type of person they accept. He's paranoid about them."

Max made a mental note of that. "Is this because you went to that party last Friday?"

"Yeah, I should never have gone. It wasn't my scene at all."

"Where the hell was Dana, she said she would stick with you." Max almost demanded.

"She was, but Trevor came along and she just disappeared. And then the video happened" Kate said sadly.

Max forced her anger towards Dana down, she could deal with that later. "Tell me about the video Kate, I know it's humiliating but maybe I can help."

Kate was quiet for a moment. "Basically, I went to one party and ended up making out with a bunch of people…I don't remember any of it."

Max was immediately on edge. "You don't drink a lot Kate; how much did you have?"

"I swear to god I had one sip of wine. And then I drank water."

"One sip? Why?" Even for a light drinker it was strange.

"It tasted funny, I have wine all the time in communion and it never tasted that weird." The girl answered.

This sounded incredibly suspicious. "Go on."

"Then I felt sick and I got really dizzy."

Alcoholic drinks were not potent enough to do that, Max knew half a dozen drugs that were. "Anything else?"

"Then Nathan said he would take me to the hospital." She finished.

Alarm bells went off in Max's head. "Prescott?"

"He was being nice for a change."

Max shook her head. "That prick doesn't know how. I take it you didn't end up in a hospital?"

Kate shook her head. "I don't know, I remember driving, I remember being in a bright room and voices. Someone poked me in the neck with a needle. I woke up outside my dorm the next day feeling sick."

Max had to sit on her hands to hide the shaking. Nathan was filed away in her mind as number one suspect. "I spoke to Victoria about the video, I expect it will come down today." _If the bitch knows what's good for her._

"I…Thank you so much Max, I don't know what I'd do if my family or church sees it." Kate managed.

Max set the book down on Kate's desk and took the girls hand. "Look Kate, I know you're probably wanting to go to the police. Nathan drugged another friend of mine and we are working on nailing his ass to the wall, when we get the proof we need I want you to come down with us and put him away for good."

Kate looked at her, shocked. "Why don't we go to the police now?"

Max shook her head. "Money buys lawyers and the Prescotts have big money, he already gets away with a clean record despite everything he does. We need to make it stick like glue, so bad that it forces the police to act."

Kate didn't look happy with her reasoning.

Max looked her friend in the eye. "Kate, I promise you we will get him, I need you to trust me. _Please._ "

"Am I really the only person here you trust?" she asked uncertainly.

"The only other person I trust isn't a student here anymore so yeah." Max confided.

"Okay, if you trust me, I can do the same. But I want to meet this other friend sometime."

Max tried for another smile, this one felt far more natural. "For sure Kate, anyway I need to get a move on, still need some food in me."

"Goodbye Max." Kate replied as she left, her voice sounded better than it had in days.

Max entered her room to find Chloe gazing blearily around, she noticed how her friend's eyes lit up as she caught sight of her.

"There you are, thought you pulled a runner." She said with her trademark goofy smile. "You managed to get dressed and everything without waking me?"

Max smirked. "I could have played the star-wars theme with a full orchestra and you would have stayed asleep."

"Nerd." Was Chloe's only reply as she reached over to pull on her jacket.

"So good news!" Max began, smiling internally at the excited look on her friend's face. "I don't have class until last period today."

"Sweet!" Chloe crowed. "Why is that?"

Max shrugged. "I only want to go to photography and that's last period."

"Am I rubbing off on you already Maxi?" Chloe teased waggling her brows.

"Let just say school for its own sake was never a priority for me."

"A woman after my own heart!" Chloe said theatrically. "We'll hit the Two whales for breakfast then."

Max just stared at her.

"What? Joyce isn't working today, checked."

Max shrugged, it was as good a plan as any. But she did wonder is the Two whales was even worth it if Joyce wasn't the one cooking.

* * *

Max would never doubt the staff of the Two whales again. She felt as if she may need Chloe to roll her back to Blackwell when the time comes, the Belgian waffle may not have been the god-tier food she remembered but it was still enough to have her mouth watering for more even with the knowledge that she could not possible finish another.

She looked out the window as the trees flashed on by, they had left the actual roads not minutes ago and were following a dirt road to god knows where. Chloe had said it was a surprise, Max wasn't a fan of surprises. A few more minutes passed and Max found herself staring as they pulled up into what looked to be a dumping ground for all manner of vehicles and scrap.

"A junkyard?" She asked as the left the truck.

"Yep, welcome to my home away from hell." Chloe replied.

Max was about to ask what they could possibly be doing here but was cut off as her phone began to ring. It was Kate.

"Sorry Chloe, I have to take this."

"Really Max? Cmoooon." Chloe whined

"Just give me a minute, I'll need to talk to you about this anyway."

"Oh, okay." Chloe said, slightly confused. "I'm gonna take care of some stuff then, find me when you're finished.

Max decided to take a walk, she didn't know if Kate would appreciate it if Chloe overheard their discussion.

"Kate, what's up?" She said as she answered the call.

"Max, I'm…My mom saw the video." The girl choked out, sobs distorting her voice.

' _Shit.'_ "Kate, you're going to be okay, we'll get proof and we'll go straight to the police."

Her statement did little to console Kate. "Max, everyone knows, what am I going to do? I need to do something about this now!"

Max began entered a little concrete block shack where she began to pace. "You need to try your best to stay calm, tell Dana it's an emergency and stay with her okay?"

"Okay… Are you with your friend right now?" Kate asked.

"Yes, trust me Kate, you can do this, we'll find proof soon and clear your name."

"Okay, I'll call Dana now." She said before hanging up.

Max let out a frustrated sigh, the universe really was out to test her. It was then that she noticed the shack she stood in was far more lived in than she would have thought, the room was clean for the most part and even the beer bottles were organized in a corner, there were numerous decorations on the walls along with a dart board and near the exit she saw graffiti that she could actually read.

 _Chloe was here_

 _Rachel was here_

Max felt a stab of pain. Is this what she and Chloe could have had? Their own little hide away, safe from the world?

Growing more uncomfortable by the second, she quickly left and made her way to where she could see Chloe lining up litter along a make-shift bench.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

Chloe jumped and almost dropped the last bottle in her hand. "Uhm, I wanted to ask you for a little favour."

Max hummed questioningly.

"I want you to show me how to use this." Chloe said as she produced a revolver from behind her.

Max narrowed her eyes. "Chloe, where did you get that?"

"Step-dildo." Chloe replied with no shame in her voice.

Max sighed again. "Chloe, stealing a gun is a great way to get in a mountain of trouble. Give it here."

Chloe handed the revolver over looking a little more bashful, Max felt all her annoyance fade away at the kicked puppy look she was receiving.

"Colt python, this is an expensive gun. At least you have good taste."

Chloe broke out into a smile as Max handed the gun back.

"So how do we do this supermax?" She said as she aimed the gun one-handed at her make shift shooting range.

"First off." Max said, grabbing Chloe's other hand and putting it on the gun. "Shooting one handed is for movies."

Max spent the next minute moving Chloe into the correct stance, correcting her every time she strayed out of position before letting her take a test shot.

She missed. Max's ears rang.

' _Dog I am an idiot.'_

"One second Chloe." She said before fishing through her bag, she always carried a few bags of ear buds just in case. She decided to grab her own gun, maybe it would be better to have Chloe mimic her own positioning.

"Here, put these in." She said, handing over a pack of ear buds. "It's not the best protection but at least it's something."

The girl complied and took another shot. It skimmed the beer can, sending it flying.

"One second." Max said as Chloe lined up another shot. She moved behind the taller girl and shifted the girls arms slightly and held them in place. She completely missed her friends reddening face at the prolonged contact.

"Don't completely close your other eye, you'll want the peripheral vision if things turn to shit. Good. Now try to squeeze the trigger with your hand, don't focus on pulling it." Max instructed.

Another shot echoed through the junkyard, another beer can was sent flying. Chloe grinned with victory as she fired off another three shots, all hitting their mark. The girl was a natural.

"This is amazeballs Max!" Chloe declared. "Here show me how it's done!"

Max was so enthralled by her friends smile as she took the pistol that she didn't feel the need to tell her that she had fired all six rounds already.

"Hey, it's Thelma and Louise. Or is it Bonnie and Clyde?" Came a gruff voice to their left.

Max was immediately on edge; the man didn't look at all like a landowner and anyone else choosing to hang out in a junkyard would be shady at best.

"Excuse us, Frank." Chloe said, her tone aggressive.

"Oh, I'm sorry Chloe. Don't let me get in the way of your bonding. I just heard gunshots, it's pretty cute you're playing with guns. Just like I did when I was your age." The man said.

So, this was Frank, he certainly looked the part of the drug dealer from the scruffy clothes and beard to his overly confident swagger.

"We aren't anything alike man." Chloe shot back.

"Well, we both need money." Frank said as his eyes narrowed. "In fact, you need it pretty bad because you owe me a shitload, don't you?"

' _Oh Chloe, what have you gotten into?'_

"You'll get your money." Chloe said, her voice lacking confidence.

"Don't they all say that? Y'know, even when they're broke and acting tough…"

The man turned to look at Max, his gaze flitting over her to land on her arms currently hidden behind her.

"What're you hiding there girlie?" He said, pointing at Max, his arm outstretched. "Let me see.

"Where did you get that bracelet?" Chloe demanded, interrupting them.

"A friend. And it's none of your fucking business." The man shot back, strangely defensive.

"That's Rachel's bracelet! Why the fuck are you wearing her bracelet!?" Chloe took a step forward.

"Calm yourself, alright? It was a gift." The man sounded surprisingly sincere.

"No, it wasn't. You stole that shit! Give it to me right now asshole!" Chloe accused and made a lunge toward his wrist.

In a flash the man shoved her back a step and drew a switchblade.

The monster stirred inside Max.

"You better step back girl. I mean it. You want me to cut you, bitch?" He growled.

The sound of a gun cocking caught both their attention.

"You done fucked up, Frank." Max said in an icy voice, her own gun pointed squarely at the man's chest.

"You're kidding. Put that down." Frank said in disbelief.

A gunshot sounded, and the drug dealer flinched as her felt something tear past his left ear.

"That was your only warning." Max said, her teeth bared in a snarl. "Knife down."

Frank complied, dropping the blade and raising his arms. "What now?"

"Chloe, wait in the truck." Max commanded. "Now!" she snapped when she began to protest.

She turned back to Frank and jerked her chin towards the woods he emerged from. "Let's take a walk."

The man trekked nervously in front of her for the next five minutes before Max had decided they were well out of earshot.

"Alright, that's far enough."

"What, you gonna bury me out here? Make me dig my own grave?" The man questioned.

Max snorted sharply. "Hardly, it would be far easier to bury you in the junkyard. I got some questions for you"

"Okay…" The man said slowly.

"First off… How much does Chloe owe you?"

Frank seemed surprised at that. "Three grand, plus interest."

Max did not like that. "Are you fucking with me, you must be the dumbest drug dealer out there if you kept selling after a few hundred."

"No, it's not like that…she needed to fix her car up almost a year back, we were…friendlier back then." He began.

Max gave him a sideways look.

"Look, I've known Chloe for years and I like her enough, but she is prone to doing dumb as fuck things. If she pulls this kind of shit with a dealer when she escapes to LA, she'll end up on the 6 o'clock news." He continued.

"So you're just looking out for her then?" Max asked sarcastically.

"I'm not the nice guy bitch, I need to make money. But I bet she didn't tell you I saved both her and Rachel's lives, hell, I saved Chloe twice now."

"No, she hasn't" she conceded. The man didn't seem to be lying. "So, Rachel did give you that bracelet."

"Yeah." Frank looked nervous at that, not guilty nervous but the same kind mix of emotions that every kid at Blackwell had when they spoke about her. Max shuddered, dude had to be almost twice her age.

Max sighed. She has been doing that a lot lately. Keeping one eye on Frank, she reached into her bag and produced a small teddy bear. After performing a few calculations in her head she threw the bag at Frank.

"The fuck is this." He asked as he caught the stuffed toy.

"Open it."

With a confused look he turned the bear over to see the thin stitching on it's back. He tore the stitching open and fished out his prize, a large roll of bills. He looked up at her in shock.

"That's five grand, consider Chloe's debt paid." She said. Frank nodded so fast she wondered how it didn't fall off. "As for the difference, you can get me some of your best weed, just hand it to Justin and tell him it's for me. Knowing him, he'll be seeing you soon."

Frank nodded, five grand goes a long way to building bridges.

"One more thing. You sell drugs to Nathan Prescott?" Max asked.

"Shit girl, I sell drugs to everyone." The man replied.

"GHB, Rohypnol, anything…date-rapey?"

"I don't just share information like that, it's bad for business." Frank growled.

Max narrowed her eyes. "Nathan has drugged two of my friends so far, and those are the ones I'm sure of. I'm going to bring his ass down and bury him. You can either help me, or I can bury you."

Frank looked at her as the seconds passed, eventually he sighed, deciding she wasn't making an idle threat. "Alright, he's bought a shitload of stuff from me, I keep records but they're not on me for obvious reasons. But yeah, I think I have sold him GHB."

Max lowered the gun, now she just had to figure out where he took Kate…that and get proof of them being there.

"Alright. Thanks." She said, motioning Frank to leave, the man did. He kept an eye on her the whole time.

"Frank?" She called out as he was about to disappear into the trees. The man stopped. "If you ever pull a weapon on Chloe again I wont just kill you. I'll make you beg me to kill you."

She heard him swallow.

Chloe was sitting on the truck when Max returned. Her eye's widened as Max emerged from among the piles of trash and she sprinted over to embrace her.

"Shitballs, Max!" She began, "What was that about? What happened?"

"Relax, Chloe." Max soothed. "All three of us are still breathing. We just had a little talk."

"Max your talks sound super scary…" Chloe said. "What kind of talk was it?"

"The kind that means you don't owe him money anymore." Max saw her friend's eyes widen in shock.

"What? How the…what?" Chloe sputtered.

"Don't worry about it." Max said as she patted the taller girl on the cheek. "I also found out he's the one selling GHB to Nathan."

"Fucker." Chloe breathed.

"Yeah, but then again drug dealers sell drugs."

"That fucker used it to dose me!" Chloe almost yelled.

"He also used it to dose my friend Kate." Max replied. "He took her from a party last week to a place with bright lights. It was far enough away that she remembers the drive."

"Oh shit." Chloe whispered. "We have to do something!"

"Of course. We find wherever he took her, get evidence of whatever he did and then no matter how much money Nathan throws around, he's going away."

Chloe nodded. "What if we can't get anything on him, Max?"

Max was silent a few moments. "Then I'll take care of it."

"Max…" Chloe said, putting her hand on Max's shoulder.

"I can count all the friends I've ever had on one hand Chloe." Max said shrugging the hand off. "Nathan has hurt two of you already and with Rachel missing, he's the best suspect. If I can't get him the right way…then I'll get him my way."

* * *

It was beginning to rain by the time they pulled up at Blackwell academy. Their altercation in the junkyard had been a dampener on their day but Max wouldn't complain, any time she spent with Chloe was worth it, maybe it wasn't healthy to use her best friend as an anchor, but Max hardly cared, she hasn't been healthy in years.

"Alright batmax, here you go." Chloe said as she parked up at the steps. "Let me know when you're all wrapped up here and I'll swing back around?"

"You bet." She replied, there was nothing else she would rather do.

Despite the rain, Max didn't feel at all compelled to run to class. It had been another weird day even by her standards and she found the cold rain to be somewhat soothing.

' _Who would have thought that after all these years, high school would be the place to confuse me the most.'_

She was fairly damp by the time she made it through the doors to the school, she could see more than a few other students who were in a similar state to her. It was a good thing that Blackwell had central heating otherwise there would be more than a few cases of the cold starting up. Her attention was caught as she passed Dana, the blonde cheerleader looked immaculate as ever. She could probably walk around the school and not look a hair out of place.

"Max, you're here, good." She breathed.

"What's going on Dana?" Max asked, she was beginning to get a bad feeling.

"Kate's been hanging with me all day but she's getting more and more frantic about that video."

' _Shiiit'_ "Where is she? Is she going to Jefferson's class?"

Dana nodded. "She left just before you came in."

Without a word Max turned and strode down the hall at a pace that should have been impossible with her short legs. She heard Kate before she could see her through the throng of students, no words could be made out but she recognized her frantic voice.

"What do you want from me?" She heard Kate demand as Max neared.

"I want you to be honest." The voice belonged to Jefferson.

' _What the fuck do you think you're doing?'_

"Nobody believes me anyway... So you won't help me?" Kate's voice sounded again.

"I'm trying. But you have to understand my position..."

"Why? You don't understand mine. Nobody does..." Kate said, backing away just as Max emerged from the crowd.

"Kate!" She called but the girl pulled away from her.

"Stop, don't come near me!" She cried, before turning to run.

Max stood stunned. How had she gotten so much worse since this morning…What did Jefferson say to her?

"What the hell did you say to her!?" She demanded before she could stop herself. The monster inside was beginning to stir once more.

Jefferson looked taken back, Max had made a point of being quiet and solitary in class during her month at Blackwell, the 'change' was jarring.

"I asked her to be honest, this episode about that vortex party is getting quite out of hand." He responded.

"Of course it is!" Max said, she's getting shit on by the entire student body and you are the second staff member to make her cry this week!"

Jefferson's eyes widened. "It wasn't my intention to cause her most distress Max, I assure you that."

Max shook her head, it was never anyone's intention after shit hits the fan. She opted to ignore Jefferson and enter the classroom, she had a bone to pick with a certain pixie blonde. She could feel the red start to creep into her vision as she marched through the room towards Victoria, the girl was absorbed in her tablet and a rather uncomfortable look on her face. Max didn't care at all.

"Is this how you want to go out? Calling my bluff?" She hissed as she forcefully put her palm down on the screen of the tablet.

"Wha-what?" Victoria stuttered, her face a mixture of shock and fear.

"The video. I told you to take it down, and now all of Kate's family is seeing it."

"I did take it down!" Victoria exclaimed.

Max blinked. Surely, she heard that wrong.

"It was a shitty thing to put up, I took it down this morning."

Max took a step back almost dazed, she had been prepared to beat her down in front of everyone and to hell with the consequences. Victoria was still staring at her with wide, frightened eyes.

' _Dog, what the hell am I doing?'_

Now most of the class was looking at her, some looked in confusion and a few even in fear. Even Jefferson was watching her with a strange look on his face. Max could only stare back, unsure of whether she should run from the class or take her seat and try play it cool.

At that moment the door to the class burst open to reveal Juliet's 'maybe' boyfriend Zach.

"Yo! Shit's going down at the down at the girl's dorms, Kate's on the roof!" He called.

The blood froze in Max's veins and her mind rebelled at the very thought, there was no way Kate would go that far. But the evidence was there, she had to act and she had to do it now.

So she did. She flung the window open and jumped through, ignoring the exclamations of surprise and Jefferson's protests.

For the first time in months Max reached out with her mind to touch the threads of space and time without the intent to rewind, she felt them recoil away from her as they always did and she felt the burning pain she always did as she grasped hold…

And she held on. It had been months since she had frozen time completely, it was far easier to rewind multiple times, but she'd be damned if she'll let Kate jump even once. She had enough fodder to haunt her dreams without the false memories of her new friend's suicide. And so she ran, or tried to, it was akin to trying to run through water, the frozen threads of time pushing back in protest as she tried to force her way through them.

She made it to the dorm gate before she felt her nose begin to bleed, she had never held time for more than a few dozen seconds and she was minutes away from Kate. Max gritted her teeth as she pushed through the pain unaware of the ethereal beauty that surrounded her as rain-drops were held suspended in the air.

She pushed through the courtyard, she could see a small crowd gathered together already, Dana knelt on the ground frozen in the act of screaming up at Kate as her tears sat suspended on her face, Juliet watching at her side in wide-eyed horror.

She forced her way through the doorway and passed David Madsen, the man's face was panicked as he stood frozen in mid run. At least somebody was trying to get to her, even if it was one of the men who had pushed her up there.

Max's head was pounding by the time she reached the rooftop, she knew if she held any longer she would run the risk of passing out. Time resumed its flow as she burst through the door to find a startled Kate standing not a foot from the edge.

"How did you- what are you doing here Max?" She asked, her eyes shining with tears.

"I'm here for _you_ , Kate." Max tried, taking a step towards the distraught girl.

"Max seriously, don't come any closer. I will jump." Kate said and Max froze in her tracks. "Oh Max, I know you want to help me. You're the only one who does. But it doesn't matter now, nothing does."

"You matter Kate. And not just to me." Max pleaded

"I want to believe you, but how can I?"

"Your life is still yours, we can get through this together. Let me help."

"You can't help me Max, you don't know what this is like!" Kate sobbed as she took a step back towards the edge.

"But I do!" Max exclaimed. "I know what it's like to be in the dark Kate, I know how it feels when you lose hope."

Kate stopped moving backwards and stared at her uncomprehendingly.

"I was kidnapped when I was thirteen." She began in a voice small enough that Kate took a step forward to hear. "They broke me and I wanted to die, I spent every day hoping they would give me an overdose by mistake or someone would go too far and hit me too hard."

Max shrugged off her flannel shirt to expose her arms, the burns across her right shoulder almost glowed as the sunlight gleamed off the water on her skin.

"These scars are obvious, but the worst ones are inside, those are the deepest cuts." Max said, she couldn't tell if the wetness on her face was the rain or her own tears. "I know how you feel Kate, I've been there, and I know you can come back from this!"

"I'm not as strong as you Max." Kate said, her face falling again. "I don't have your will."

"You have more than you know!" Max implored. "You are stronger than you know!"

"What do I have Max? besides a town of people laughing at me!"

"You have me!" Max cried, "You have your Dad, you always said no matter what he has your back. You have your sisters! We love you, please let us help you."

Kate was silent for a few moments before responding. "How can I go back to them Max, back to church, back anywhere?"

"You can go back because they love you Kate and they won't stop. And if your church doesn't like it then it doesn't matter because God himself tells the weary to come to him for rest."

"Matthew 11:28… that's my favourite…you remembered?" Kate asked, her eyes again filling with tears

Max reach out her hand. "I always listen to you Kate, and I know how much that one means to you. Now more than ever."

Max felt like she would faint from relief as Kate took her hand and collapsed into her arms. She held her friend as she sobbed, repeating over that she was sorry. She held her as David wrapped them in his coat and escorted them downstairs, she held her as they passed by the crowd in the courtyard, she held her right up until the paramedics pried her arms off to take Kate into an ambulance.

She was shaken from her thoughts shortly after by David as he raised his arm towards the entrance to Blackwell. She could see Principal Well and Jefferson standing there alongside Nathan who managed to look both shaken and pissed off.

She felt that same flash of anger burn through her again. He would not get away with this.


	5. The Calm

**Hey everyone!**

So, I have gotten a surprising amount done in my spare time and I decided to cut this chapter here as there's a whole lot of stuff coming up in the story and it didn't feel right to keep going and likely end up with a 20k word chapter. As always, feel free to offer critique of things that may not make sense or were poorly written and explained.

I realize that my proof-reading has been abysmal and there is probably a wealth of errors in this chapter as i never seem to be able to ferret them all out myself, so i'll likely be going back and touching up chapters as i see them.

On another note, i may have only just noticed that with reviews there is a reply option (please don't judge me) i don't want anyone to think i'm ignoring their contributions and comments.

So without further ado, the last chapter of the calm before the metaphorical shit storm. - i really tried to avoid making a pun there.

* * *

Her tea was getting cold.

On some level it annoyed Max that the temperature of her tea was the first thing to indicate how much time had passed, after all, she owned an alarm clock towards which she only had to turn her head to see how many hours she had spent sitting in her room. It was a small lapse in attention, but small lapses tended to congregate together and work in concert to ruin even the most careful of plans. It was not acceptable, her ability to plan was the only reason she was still alive.

It was also her sixth round of tea, Chamomile to be specific, beloved around the world for its subtle but pleasant taste and above all, its calming and relaxing properties. And God did Max need help relaxing today.

A part of her appreciated the irony of the fact that Chloe's re-entrance into her life, for all her friend's ability to coax Max into a relaxed state, should herald in the single most stressful week since the early days of her war against Andrej Damjanac. She still marvelled at the fact high school was taking a larger mental toll on her than years of murder and intrigue, she almost wished she could return to the days in which she simply didn't care about anything so long as the right people died.

It made a wicked sort of sense that Murphy, that mischievous god of ill-fated possibilities, would bring hell down on her now that she _wanted_ to care about things. Murphy was a dick like that. Was it the price she had to pay for the powers she holds? That she would never be able to settle into any sense of normalcy? The prospect scared her.

People say life is hard. They don't know the half of it.

' _Powers of a God and you're still no closer to figuring any of this shit out.'_ She thought snidely to herself as she looked over the mess of information in front of her. Various pages lay spread across the floor around her as if doing their best to imitate light radiating from the sun, some were Prescott property developments, some were pages of her own notes on Nathan, Principle Wells and David, others were newspaper and internet reports of missing girls in Arcadia bay, none offered her any further insight into Rachel's disappearance or where Nathan may have taken Kate.

At this rate she would be there for the rest of the week, a frame of time in which she had little to do anyway considering the outcome of this afternoon's meeting. She was suspended. She supposed it was a fair trade, as Nathan had too been suspended but it still rankled her that she could go from being the 'Hero of Blackwell' to being on suspension in the space of an hour.

With the benefit of hindsight and copious amounts of soothing tea, she supposed she could have handled the meeting better. She could, for example, have played upon her hero status to sway favour in her direction, she could have played upon Principal Well's conceit to convince him of her words. She could have done a lot of things if she hadn't been so frustrated, so _angry_. Or if she had any social ability whatsoever.

But no, what had she done? She had resorted to spite and threw it all away after the first sentence, 'Now, I know today was difficult for everybody, but I'm so proud of the way Blackwell pulled together to save a young girl's life', Wells had said, oh how she wanted to slap the man right then and there. She had resolved before hand to contain herself and allow the meeting to pass as quickly as possible, unfortunately her traitor mouth had betrayed her immediately and she had cut him off with a loud snort.

Wells took exception to that. Max took exception to his exception.

"The only thing a united Blackwell achieved was to push her to that roof in the first place." She had spat, not the most tactful thing to say but the look on the man's face had been priceless, Max wished she had a camera on hand. Needless to say, the tone of the meeting had been set and things did not fall in her favour, it ended with some sharp words on all sides and with the suspension of both students. Max was pleasantly surprised at that. Part of her wanted to laugh, Prescott has a suspension on his permanent record while she doesn't technically have a permanent record at all.

With a huff Max turned her attention to her own records for the Prescott heir.

 _Nathan Martin Prescott the Third_

 _18 years old_

 _Youngest of two children, older sister left Arcadia bay some years ago. Despite the grandeur of the Prescott estate, Nathan lives in his dorm room and rarely goes home, possible family troubles? Wouldn't surprise me at all, his Dad is apparently the asshole to end all assholes._

 _On the whole, he's a dick. Plain and simple. How much of a dick he is depends on who you ask, he doesn't interact many people so most only think he's a dick because of gossip, a few have found out how much of a dick he is first-hand (Warren, Luke, Kate), some like Hayden and other members of vortex insist that away from it all, he's a nice enough guy. The doubt is strong with me._

 _Guy has mental issues. Bad. I found Risperidone in his locker while I was snooping/doing reconnaissance early on in the semester, so he's either bi-polar or schizo…maybe both? Again, he has a lot of issues. I'm convinced most of his tough guy persona is bluster, probably insecure like his bestie Victoria, likely why they get along (Bonding over rich daddy issues… first world problems much?). Strangely enough, I've seen him talk with Jefferson a fair bit while showing off some fairly good photos, it's strange he isn't in his class._

 _Word around school is that he broke some girl's ribs a few years back and she moved away, daddy Prescott apparently paid quite the sum to keep it hush hush, dude obviously doesn't even internet. Other acts of violence or disrespect even to school staff are kept quiet even though it's an open secret, Wells is almost certainly getting paid under the table for it, I would say David as well, but the guy is waaay too straight laced for that. Evidence in office? At home?_

 _-Update-_

 _The fucker drugged Kate_ _ **and**_ _Chloe. I'm going to tear his world down around him and then feed him his own balls._

 _He took Kate a reasonable distance to a place with bright lights (Not hospital-I checked. Prescott's have too many properties to guess.) Drugged Chloe (target of opportunity?). Neither claim sexual assault._

 _Can't fight worth a damn either._

 _-Update-_

 _Frank sold him GHB. Nathan's suspended, possibly wandering around the bay. Be prepared._

Max narrowed her eyes at her notes, if she was going to bring Nathan's world down around him then she would need to expose him for who he was, she would need access to his file…and not the bullshit clean file on public record. A financial link between Wells and Sean Prescott would be great but she doubted Sean got as far as he had by making stupid mistakes like that.

A sudden buzzing noise interrupted her thoughts and she saw her phone light up. It was probably Chloe, word of Kate's attempted suicide had spread like wildfire around town and she had messaged Max non-stop until she returned from the meeting and replied that she needed some time to get her head on straight. The day wasn't even over yet and she had already scared the living shit out of Victoria twice, threatened to kill Frank _and_ came within a hairs breadth of losing one of her few friends, today had been far from smooth.

Chloe: _Hey Maxeroni, I know I was blowing up yo phone only a few hrs ago but just wanna make sure ur feeling better._

Max felt a small smile spread across her face, it was a strange to have someone actively looking out for her again. It only made sense that person be Chloe, she had looked out for Max for as long as she could remember. It also worried her, she _needed_ Chloe and the thought of her leaving was almost physically painful, she couldn't afford to be out of control around her friend, she had to make sure the monster was chained down. The last thing she wanted was to make Chloe afraid of her, to see her for what she really was.

She looked over at the bowl full of tea bags, if six rounds of tea and a few hours of solitude hadn't calmed her down enough then nothing would.

Max: _Hey Chlo-bear, I'm good, just needed a few moments to myself. If you still want to come around I could use some company._

Chloe: _Fo sho maximus, I'll be around in a minute._

Chloe: _Wait._

Chloe: _Oh-no you don't, that nickname is NOT gonna work girl._

Of course, the punk princess didn't approve. Unfortunately for her, Max had already decided.

Max: _I think it's a great one. I like it._

Chloe: _Uh-uh. Doesn't fit at all._

Max: _Oh really? So you aren't super cuddly during the night?_

Chloe: _…touché._

Chloe: _Be there soon._

Despite recent events she felt almost giddy, even the thought of her friend being there was enough to both calm and energize her. Max couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if she had stayed at home instead of leaving that note, would her family have had the same effect Chloe did? Were the last months of trying to normalize herself pointless? She viciously struck the thoughts from her head, dwelling on the past had never helped her in the slightest, playing the what-if game had only ever made things worse.

A knock at her door pulled her from her thoughts. Max frowned, there was no way Chloe would be anywhere near Blackwell right now. Warily, she approached the door and opened it slightly to peer through. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw Juliet standing outside her room, an arm still raised as if to knock again.

"Hey Max." She greeted, lowering her hand in embarrassment.

Max blinked, trying to figure out what she could want. "Hi."

It took Juliet an uncomfortable few seconds to realize Max wasn't going to say anything more. "I-uh, just wanted to make sure you were okay after everything today, I can't imagine what it must have been like for you up there."

Max cocked her head curiously; she and Juliet barely had an amicable relationship. "I'm okay, just needed a while to settle down."

"That's fair, I felt like I needed a while to settle and think about stuff too and I didn't do what you did." Juliet responded. "A lot of people must feel the same if her board is anything to go by."

Max's eyes flickered across the hall, even from the distance she stood she could make out the supportive messages written across her board, people had even tied 'get well soon' balloons to her doorknob. She scoffed.

Juliet's brow rose a little, but she didn't press her on it. "Actually Max, I was hoping to talk to you about the what happened today. You are the closest one to Kate here."

' _There's always an ulterior motive…'_ Max thought to herself somewhat bitterly. She doesn't know what more she should have expected of the would-be journalist. "I'm not interested in interviews or any attention for that matter. Everyone is well aware of what happened today."

"Look Max, with what you did today you're not going to be able to avoid media attention." Juliet explained unoffended, Max suspected she had planned this conversation well. "Everyone will be dying to know your side and you'll have journalists following you around in no time if you don't get some sort of statement out."

Max frowned. She loathed being the centre of attention and she couldn't afford to have people poking into her business, she payed good money for her identity but as a rule of thumb she trusted people who provided such thing about as far as she could throw them.

Juliet took her lack of response as permission to continue. "I know you don't do interviews, you've blown me off more than once, but if you sit down with me for a little while then I can put the story out there and make it clear that's all you will say on the issue."

Max's jaw worked silently as she thought the proposition through. Juliet was right, even if she didn't understand her need for privacy, it was better to answer some questions now while she was prepared rather than risk being ambushed by some pushy hack from a larger newspaper.

She sighed. "Alright, you have a point." Max conceded.

Juliet's face broke out into a wide smile. "You won't regret it Max!"

Max turned to regard the mess of papers and photographs scattered around her room, papers she would rather people not know about. "Maybe we can do this in your room? Mine's a little bit of a mess."

"Yeah, sure. That would probably be better." Juliet said with a shrug.

It seemed only the span of a few seconds before Max was sitting opposite Juliet at the prospective reporters table, the girl had provided a cup of chamomile tea as if she knew how uncomfortable Max would be. Taking a sip, she noticed Juliet had even put honey in it, she wondered if the brunette was aware of how she liked her tea or if it were coincidence.

"So how does this work?" Max asked.

"Well I suppose we can cut right to the chase." Juliet said as she switched on a voice recorder before beginning. "Most students are aware of some of the events that happened leading up to today, but gossip and internet videos only show part of the story, as perhaps Kate's closest friend at Blackwell, is there any light you can shed on this tragic week?"

Max paused. She counted Kate as a close friend, but she was unsure if Kate returned the sentiment to the same extent, for all her shyness Kate got along quite well with most students, Max on the other hand made most people nervous with her piercing stares and lack of tact.

"I wasn't there, Kate only went to that party because another friend of hers insisted, that same friend left her there alone." Max began. Juliet looked distinctly uncomfortable at the jab towards her best friend. "She told me that her drink had tasted funny so she barely drank any of it, then suddenly she's acting the polar opposite of how everyone knows her to be."

"Are you claiming that Kate was drugged at the party?" Juliet asked, unfeigned shock written across her face.

"She believes she was, and I believe her. I know that GHB for example has a salty taste that would clash with any wine's flavour, it also causes loss of inhibitions. You do the math." Max replied.

"It makes sense, I just can't believe that someone would do that."

"A party for underage students where alcohol is provided and kids are lighting up in bathrooms despite being on school grounds. It's already breaking so many laws and regulations, you don't think someone from a group of drunk frat boys is capable of it?"

Juliet looked at a loss. "It's just not something you really think about I guess…so the video taken of all that must have disturbed her."

"It did." Max confirmed. "She locked herself in her room and was so quiet I thought she had left for the weekend. The video was also seen by many of Kate's friends and family, that combined with the bullying at school was too much for her."

"Yes, it's become a real problem here at Blackwell, I have ben preparing a piece on the subject for some time."

Max felt her grip tighten on her cup as she glared at Juliet. "Are you going to look me in the eye and tell me you didn't watch the video and laugh along with the rest of them Juliet?"

To her credit, the brunette's head hung in shame. "I suppose even if we are not directly involved, we are still not part of the problem."

"Even people who are supposed to be her friends." Max accused. She didn't understand people, they were so fickle.

Juliet was quiet for almost a minute before she replied. "Even us…. When you were speaking to Kate, what did you say to change her mind?"

"I didn't change her mind." She said. At Juliet's confused look she continued. "If she wanted to jump, she would have done it before anyone could get to her…she wanted a reason to keep going and she was at the end of her rope waiting for one. I just helped her remember what those reasons are."

"And what were they?" Juliet asked.

"Personal."

Juliet seemed to realize her lack of tact in asking. "You seem…very sure about how she felt."

Max was silent as the seconds ticked on before she started involuntarily. "I am not a stranger to the dark."

Juliet's eyes narrowed with interest.

Max winced internally, wondering where that had come from. "Her situation isn't unique, there are too many who go through it. So many of those don't find a reason to keep going."

"I'm glad whatever experience you had was able to help her." Juliet responded before leaning in. "With everything that's happened, people are going to want to know about you. Maybe you can tell us all a bit more about yourself."

' _Shit…This is what I was afraid of."_ Max thought as she wracked her brains trying to decide how to approach this. "I don't think I should be the focus of what happened, it's more important for people to recognize the signs that someone has reached breaking point."

Juliet nodded in agreement but did not let the subject go. "Of course, I'll make sure that the focus remains on Kate but people will still want to hear about you, whether you believe them or not, people think you're a hero."

Max's jaw clenched. She considered rewinding but with how long she froze time for earlier, it may not be the best idea, no, she needed to save whatever rewind she had left. "What are people wanting to know?"

Juliet looked at her almost incredulously. "Nobody knows anything about you Max, all I know is that your name and the fact you're from Italy and like photography."

' _That's exactly what I want.'_ "I'm not really a fan of the spotlight." Max answered honestly.

The brunette gave Max an unimpressed look.

Eventually Max relented."Fine, what else?"

Juliet let out an exasperated sigh. "Where are you from in Italy, what school did you go to, what made you come here. That sort of thing."

Max bit her lip, Juliet had been trying to get answers like this since the semester started, she needed to give her enough to let go. "I'm from a city called Pàdova in the north of Italy, not far from Venice, no one would have heard of the school I went to. As for why I came here? I always wanted to be a photographer and Blackwell is one of the best schools for it. Also, who wouldn't want to do an exchange in America if they got the chance?"

Juliet chuckled. "There are plenty of places that would be cool to do an exchange in, Arcadia bay isn't one of them."

Max blinked. And again. "Valid point."

"Can I ask about those scars?" Juliet asked suddenly with all the tact of a rhinoceros.

Max froze, the girl was not looking at her face, she was staring at her body as if she could see the concealed blemishes. She didn't know what to say. "I was really clumsy." She blurted. "I've fallen over more times than I can count, and made things fall on me."

There was nothing false about the statement, lying with truth is an essential skill to her. If only she could force her hands to unclench.

Juliet, for her part was looking at her strangely as if not quite convinced, just as Max decided it would be better to rewind and try a second time, the girl nodded and smiled sadly. "I guess not everyone gets away with the mistakes they make as kids."

' _Aint that the truth.'_ "I've never been a lucky person." Max said.

"Well…I think that should be enough for now." Juliet said after a few moments passed. "I can give you a look at the article before it gets released if you want?"

Max got up from the chair feeling more than ready to leave. "That would be nice…I'm sure it'll be great."

Max was so eager to return to her room that she barely acknowledged Juliet's farewell. Had she turned around she may have noticed the perplexed look on the girl's face. After the door closed the room was filled with the sound of keystrokes, the sound of a name being repeatedly searched.

 _Maxine Sartori, Arcadia bay.._.

 _Maxine Sartori, Padova, Italy…_

* * *

Chloe was not a happy girl. It could be argued that she was never happy as a general rule, one could point out her ice-cold relationship with her mother and step-father, her resting bitch-face that seemed to settle into a scowl without her permission, certainly one could point out her general stand-offish attitude but even relative to her usual state, she was not happy.

The day had begun so well, she had woken up at an unholy hour of the morning by her standards to find Max still in her arms, pressed up against her as the small spoon. She had been content to lie like that all morning, drifting in and out of sleep and basking in the knowledge that Max was there with her after so many years. It had been such a pleasant morning that waking up again alone in the bed had not fazed her at all, Max had returned before she had fully woken up anyway and with good news no less.

Then the episode with Frank happened and Chloe didn't know what to think of it. Her fists clenched hard enough to turn her knuckles white as she remembered him sticking a knife in her face and declaring Rachel's bracelet to be his, as if Rachel would have given that bracelet to someone like him, and then like a light switch, Max was that same ice-cold girl that put a gun to her head.

Chloe shook her head violently to rid herself of that image as she paced her room wanting a joint to calm herself down but also wanting to be ready to drive to Max the moment the girl gave the word. Thinking of Max was both a pleasure and a pain, the knowledge that her friend was alive and there in Arcadia with her was enough to make her constantly pinch herself just to be certain she was not in the grip of some cruel dream, but thoughts of Max would inevitably turn to their conversation on the beach where she told Chloe of her past half decade. The story, even abridged as it was, was soul crushing and left her with a riot of emotions she didn't know how to deal with.

So she didn't. She did what she always did when she found herself in these situations. She put on her best mask and ignored it. Her friend was broken, pouring herself out to her and she sat there like an idiot, she could have hugged her, she could have told her how broken she felt when she had learned of Max's supposed death and how ecstatic she was to have her back, but she didn't. Part of her hated herself for it. She needed to make it right, especially after the latest Blackwell episode.

She huffed and kicked a cardboard box across her room, it sailed pathetically slow through the air.

She was not a girl of words, that was Rachel's job, Chloe just _did_ things, sure it didn't always work out but it was all she knew. The only trouble now was figuring out what to do, she didn't have the slightest clue as to where she could start and she felt she had a lot to make up for, whether Max would agree or not.

With a groan she sat herself down at her desk, her finger beating a rhythm on the hard wood top as she stared out her window. It was going to be a dark night even though the rain clouds had long since passed and left the sky perfectly clear, there would be no moon at all to give any natural light to the bay and the town itself had precious little by way of lights.

Chloe loved nights like this. She liked to lie down and lose herself in the starry night, it was the closest to freedom she could ever feel in this hick-town. She had tried to convince Rachel to stargaze with her but she had lost interest in it as the years passed, a lot of things had changed between them over the years. But still, like clockwork, every new moon would find Chloe ready, waiting and wishing she capture the moment for what it was, to freeze time and enjoy it forever.

 _Capture the moment._

She shot to her feet, the beginnings of a plan forming in her mind's eye and she resumed her pacing around her room, chewing at her lip while she mentally listed out everything she would need to make it work. _'Tripod…food…blankets…oh, and weed'_

Chloe smiled. She was a genius when she needed to be.

It was barely an hour later that she pulled up into Black-hell's parking lot, she decided it would be better not to tempt trouble by parking across the handicap spaces as she normally did. Not that trouble need a reason to find her. Thankfully she was still early enough that security wouldn't send her packing if she was spotted, not that she expected security to be heavy, David was still at home and she was pretty sure that he was the only one who gave a damn.

She was confused when Max didn't open her door, the girl had invited her over a bare few minutes ago. She knocked again, still no answer. She whipped out her phone to see if she had missed any messages, there was nothing besides another text from Joyce asking when she would be home, she ignored that like she always did. She raised her hand to knock once more before she realized her friend was probably in the shower or something to that effect, she doubted Max would have anticipated her being halfway to the school when she sent the message.

With a grin she checked the hallways, she had broken into Rachel's room a hundred times and she was sure Max's would be just as easy. Just like Black-hell to skimp on important things. With an expert flick of her wrists she forced David's gym membership card in between the door and its frame and bent the card outwards, once, twice….and the lock clicked open.

' _Damn, wonder if Max knows how easy this is.'_

Quickly, she hopped inside the room and closed the door, smiling all the way. It probably wasn't the best of ideas to sneak up on Max given her…violent tendencies, but Chloe would be damned if she passed up an opportunity to go punk-ghost on her at least once.

That was the plan anyway, no plan survived first contact and sure enough, she found herself transfixed as she stared at the mess of papers spread across her friend's floor, everything had been cleared to make way for ordered chaos before her. She picked up the closest paper, it was a document for one of the new Prescott Pan estates, she had no idea what Max would want with that. Max was not the only one with a nosy streak and Chloe was soon tip-toeing around the room peeking at her friend's work.

Most of the papers were profiles, notes on various people at Blackwell. She could see Principal Wells there along with David, Kate, Nathan and a dozen other people. Chloe couldn't stop her eyes from widening in amazement, this was some next level spy movie stuff…or at least to her it was. Then a particular paper caught her eye, it was placed along side Kate's, Rachel's and two other girls she didn't know. She couldn't help herself, who would have the will power not to look at their own paper?

 _Chloe Elizabeth Price_

 _Same old Chloe, just older and harder. I of all people should have seen that one coming. Hair's blue now which threw me off at the beginning, suits her though, who would have thought blue hair would be hot?_

Chloe felt her face stretch with a Cheshire grin. ' _Why thank you Maxi-pad'_

 _During the bathroom incident I heard her say she said Nathan drugged her, the fucker didn't deny it. He's going to pay for that. She woke up and escaped before he could do anything so Nathan has to be bad at measuring doses, Kate's symptoms indicate a near overdose._

 _I'll need to ask her more about Rachel, maybe I can get Dana to teach me tact…Rachel is obviously a sore subject (Romantic involvement?). Nobody else can tell much more than their own infatuated perceptions but everyone agrees that Chloe knew her best. I'm glad she found another best friend, even if it hurts a little._

The last line had been scribbled out, but years of experience in deciphering her own shoddy handwriting allowed her to read it with relative ease. It hurt? surely Max didn't think she had just forgotten about her, that she had just let her go? With a wince Chloe realized that for years she had at least _tried_ to do just that, she may have been ignorant of Max's situation but it's not like she had done everything in her power to find out.

Suddenly she found she didn't want to read anymore and she replaced the paper and flopped down on Max's bed, if there was anything super important in the notes then she trusted Max to tell her. She considered taking a nap for however long Max would be gone until a flash of blue caught her eye, the bedside draws were open and something inside was catching the room's light with brilliant sparkles.

She let out a small gasp as she pulled the object from the draw. She knew what it was, she was there when it was made, she had been the one to drop the entire pot of glitter on top of it when Max declared that the album was missing something. Of all the things in the room, this was the only link her friend had to her past life.

She could tell right away who had done which page, Chloe's pages were a mess of photos and drawings with no rhyme or order, Max's on the other hand were perfectly laid out, the order of the pictures seeming to tell their own stories. Even back then Max had an eye for photographs.

She was barely aware of her jaw clenching with supressed emotion as she flipped through the pages of the book, no…the story of their lives. Two little girls building castles in the school's sand pit, the same girls years later painting their own mural, a pre-teen Max on Chloe's shoulders as she stumbled across the sand while her father chased them with seaweed. The story continued with photos of them in their new tree-house, courtesy of William and Ryan's best efforts and a rather embarrassing shot of the results of their 'wine tasting'.

Soon she arrived at the end of the book or rather, the last page to hold memories. She knew the final photo well, it was one she kept her own copy of in her room. Chloe had declared herself captain that day and appointed Max to be her first mate, hours of thrift shopping and makeup application ended in each girl looking like they belonged on the pirates of the Caribbean set and Max, true to form, insisted they immortalize the moment. She ran her finger across the picture, she was so happy then, before life had stolen everything away from her. She wished she could be there once again, if only for a few minutes.

"It was the only thing a grabbed from my parent's house." Came Max's voice from the doorway.

It was all Chloe could do to not shoot into the air as her friend's voice, the girl was unnaturally quiet.

"Jesus, put a bell on Max." She eventually retorted.

Max just gave a self-satisfied smirk. "Consider it part of you ninja training. You already seem to have lock-picking mastered…"

"You should probably change the lock; Blackwell dorms are really easy to break into."

"Can't, I asked. You break into a lot of dorms?" Max asked with a raised brow.

"Only Rachel's." Chloe replied. She noticed Max's jaw clench briefly at the name.

Her friend's face lost most of its warmth and she took on a more business tone. "Ah, speak of the girl, I've gotten as far as I can with the info I have, that is to say nowhere." She said, indicating the papers on her floor. "I need more to go on."

"There's nothing in all this?" Chloe asked, there was so much here, how could it all mean nothing?

Max's face twisted in annoyance. "There's the beginnings of patterns but it doesn't really fit together. For example, if we assume that these other two missing girls are connected, then we have two different profiles."

Max moved across the floor to pick up a collection of papers. "These other two and Kate are very similar, shy, reserved and innocent by all accounts, if they are all victims of the same person then that person has a type. But then there's you and Rachel who don't fit that description at all."

Chloe snorted, that was an understatement.

Max bit her lip in thought. "We know that Nathan drugged both you and Kate, you could have been a target of opportunity but there's still too many unknowns here, he's not holding to the pattern. So I'm obviously not seeing the big picture."

"Maybe he doesn't have a pattern? He's fucking crazy." Chloe stated.

"There's always a pattern, it's human nature." Max replied as she set the papers down before spinning to face her. "So, are you up for a late-night raid on Blackwell?"

' _The hell kinda question is that?'_ "Shit yes." She said, eager to stick it to the academy in any way possible. "How do we do this?"

Max just held up a small key with a triumphant smirk. "Master key, courtesy of the head of security."

' _Oh shit.'_ "Head of security?" She repeated.

"Yeah, swiped it, made a mould and voila! Instant access." Max said before catching the look on her face. "You know the guy?"

Chloe groaned. "Yeah… He's my step-douche."

Max just stared at her as the seconds passed, her eyes flickering as if trying to process that fact.

"Step-douche?" She asked incredulously. "Joyce married that asshole?"

"Yup."

"What the hell was she thinking, she's way too good for that bag of dicks."

Chloe snorted, she agreed on some level but on the whole, she thought they were equally bad, David for all his faults never lied.

Max did not miss her snort, or the dark look on her face. "You don't think so?"

Chloe sighed and ran her hand through her hair, she had been hoping to avoid this as long as possible. "Me and Joyce…we don't talk a whole lot."

The look on Max's face told her she wasn't going to get away without explanation. Chloe sighed.

"You were gone for almost five years Max, the first people your parents called was Joyce." She paused to take a breath, even after all this time it still hurt something fierce. "Do you know when I found out?"

Max shook her head.

"Last year." She growled. "I found out last fucking year, and I had to find out by calling your house and hearing you dad break down!"

Max's face was a mask of confusion, she kept blinking in disbelief.

"All those months of me calling your phone, every time I threatened to run away to Seattle to find you, she said _nothing_ , not a god-damned word. I thought you abandoned me Max, I thought…I…I was so angry at you, and the whole time she said nothing." She found herself blinking away angry tears as Max sat herself down next to her.

"I'm just so sick of it." She continued. "Everyone keeps lying to me or…or jerking me around. Sometimes I just want to drop a big fucking bomb on this town and turn it to glass!"

Max hesitantly lifted her hand before she placed it above Chloe's knee and gave it a small squeeze, it was an uncertain, even awkward attempt to console her but she appreciated it all the same. She was annoyed at herself though, tonight was supposed to be about her consoling Max. No plan survives first contact.

"And what about you Max, you're the one who had the biggest shit-storm." She asked.

"I'm okay, all things considered." Max eventually replied. "I keep…losing control, it's like I see red and suddenly there's another person in control."

Chloe shuffled closer and threw an arm around her friend. She was most certainly not savouring her coconut scent. "Fight or flight I'd say, and you've been all fight for so long. You'll get better, I know it."

Words were not something she was confident in but there was no way in hell she was going to wuss out of it this time.

Max leaned into her shoulder. "I hope so Chloe. I've never had to keep up a ruse for so long and it's stressing me out, then something happens and I snap. People are noticing I'm off."

"Fuck them." Chloe scoffed. "But what do you mean by ruse?"

"I've mostly avoided people until now, can't do that here. I've never stayed in one area under the same name for any longer than a few weeks."

Chloe thought over that, she knew a thing or two about keeping up a façade to shut other people up, doing it for years must be awful. "I guess you have no choice you there…But here it's just you and me, you can always drop the mask with me."

"I know Chloe. And thank-you…Oh I also got suspended today." Max's face may have been hidden but she was certain she could _hear_ her frown.

"The actual fuck? You saved the girl's life and they suspend you?" Chloe almost yelled.

"Remember what I said about losing control? Yeah, I may have lost it at Wells, Jefferson, Nathan _and_ David…" Max said somewhat sheepishly.

"…Oh."

"Yeah…"

"Sooooo, when are we going to plunder Black-hell?" Chloe asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Mmm." Max mused as she leaned over to grab her bedside alarm clock. "Should give it about twenty. Better safe than sorry."

They were at the doors of Blackwell in twenty minutes on the dot.

' _The super spy is perfectly punctual. Who'd figure?'_ She thought as she watched for any unwanted visitors. The place was silent as the grave. She shouldn't be surprised, she knew for a fact that the security here spent more time on smoke break than actually working.

"Psst, c'mon Chloe." Came a whispered voice from the now open door, Max's key obviously worked.

Blackwell didn't look any more inviting to her during the night, the sparse light from the street cast long dark shadows as it filtered through the windows, the darkness gave the various posters and artwork a more macabre feel. She had to resist the urge to turn her phone light on, there were still guards out somewhere.

Max for her part seemed right at home as she slipped in and out of the shadows with practiced ease. Chloe could imagine her stalking some gang-banger in the night, her friend moved with a slightly awkward looking gait as she placed the outside of her foot down and rolled it completely down with ever step. It may have looked strange but Chloe couldn't hear her footsteps at all.

Max's calm expression hardened as she turned the key to Wells' office only for the lock to remain stubbornly still. She heard the girl curse and jiggle the lock more aggressively before sighing.

"Master key doesn't work." Max spat. "At least we know he has something to hide."

"What do we do now?" She whispered.

Max's was silent for a moment before turning to her. "In the drama room you'll find a whole lot of bobby pins and paper clips, can you grab me a bunch?"

Chloe smirked. "Sure, I'll consider it training for my career as an Ups driver."

She barely turned the corner to the corridor when she could have sworn she heard Max call out softly that she got it open. She returned to find Max holding the now opened door.

"Just needed to wiggle it more, my mould was probably bad." She explained as she flexed her leg repeatedly, her expression was slightly pained.

Chloe snorted, she had been looking forward to trying the lock. _'Well, at least we don't have to beat the door down.'_

"Welcome to my kingdom!" Max said with a theatrical bow.

"Some kingdom." She laughed. "Fancy faux art crap. He must want everybody to know he has money...But alas, no taste."

She made her way to the oak desk. She had found herself before this desk more times than she could count, whether the charges be drug possession, skipping school or even bullying once, she still couldn't believe that.

"I mean look at this." She ranted in a low voice. "How can you trust somebody who has a fucking bronze bird in his office? I'm glad I was expelled..."

"If only the man had splurged out on a Van-Gough, you would have been the pride of the science department." Max replied teasingly.

"Hey, fuck you man, I was a 4.0." She retorted.

Max continued her theatrical display with a heavy sigh. "But lo! She did take an arrow in the knee and was reduced to the town stoner."

Chloe giggled despite herself. "Hey, that crown belongs to Justin and you know it."

Chloe couldn't help herself, being on the wrong side of the desk for so long had left her hungry to know what it felt like on the other side. ' _Damn comfy'_ She thought as she dropped into the soft padded chair. She wanted this chair.

"Is m'lady fine there on her throne?" Max asked as she began searching through the shelves.

"M'lady is doing work on the computer." Chloe responded as she logged in on the Pc, the idiot didn't even have it password protected. "It's where people keep all their dirty secrets here in the future."

Max chuckled from the other side of the room as her phone camera flashed, likely taking shots of whatever info she needed. "Oh, you don't need to tell me. I've spent almost a million euros hiring hackers over the years…mostly Romanian, I swear they're _all_ hackers."

Chloe almost choked on her tongue. "What! How much?"

Another camera flash. "Tearing apart a criminal empire is surprisingly lucrative. They leave so much stuff just lying around, and they're oh so eager to tell me their bank details."

' _Jesus fucking Christ…'_ The casual tone when she spoke about this kind of thing continued to disturb her. Time for another subject change.

"What have you found over there?" She asked.

Yet another camera flash. "Profiles for Kate, David, Rachel…for you as well."

"Ah."

"Chloe, I've killed people with shorter rap-sheets." Max deadpanned.

"I've made some mistakes."

Max snorted. "Also found Nathan's file, clean as a whistle which means it's as real as tits on a porn-star."

"An expert in those are we?" Chloe couldn't help herself.

To her surprise, Max sputtered for a few seconds before stomping over, her red face visible even in the scant light. Chloe filed that fact away for later. Her face hardened as she stumbled across a digital gold mine, the proper file for Nathan.

"Shit, check this out Max." She said, indicating the screen. "Nathan Prescott the third. Prick's so money…Look at this shit, -bad grades, teacher complains, secret probation but yeah, expel me, I'm obviously the bigger problem."

"Well, if it helps, Nathan got suspended today as well."

Chloe was about laugh before an image on the screen made her near-choke on it. To call the drawing disturbing would have been an understatement, it was the very manifestation of psychosis on paper. Jagged scribbles arched across the paper highlighted with intense shading that seemed to have no purpose whatsoever, but it was the visible words repeated across the image that made her heart freeze.

 _Rachel in the dark room._

"What the fuck?" She breathed.

"We have a connection to Rachel now." Max mused, her expression dark as she stuck a small flash drive into the PC. "Look at the notes, he mentions David almost every sentence."

"No way, David's an asshole but there's no way he's close with that nut job." Chloe declared.

"He was interrogating Kate yesterday… And he's trying to get camera's installed around the campus." Max continued as if she didn't hear her as she copied files over.

"He keeps a whole bunch of weird papers in his workshop." Chloe said, remembering the manila folders bearing people's names. "I think they're notes on people around here."

Max was silent as she retrieved her flash drive and tucked it away safely. "Chloe…I want those folders."

Chloe blinked. "That means coming to my house, and the possibility that Joyce see's you."

"We'll jump the hurdle when we get there." She responded, her eyes flitting around the room. "We should get a move on, I don't see anything else worth checking here."

Chloe attempted to stand up, but the chair was quite high, and her long legs scraped across the underside of the desk, sliding one of the draws open.

"Jackpot." She whispered as she caught sight of an envelope, green bills almost bursting out.

"Those are hundreds, must be a few grand in there." Max said as she whipped out her camera to snap a picture.

"Handicapped fund? Yeah right, I'm a rich girl." Chloe said.

Max's hand flashed out to grab her by the wrist. "That's not a good idea Chloe."

"What? You don't think it's really for the handicapped, do you?"

Max scoffed. "Of course not. This place doesn't even have wheel-chair access ramps. But if you take that money then he will know someone had been snooping here."

"But…There's so much, and it's gotta be dirty money." Chloe reasoned.

"Chloe, I have more money than I could spend right now. Neither of us need this." Max replied, her hand not leaving her wrist.

' _I forgot Mad-Max made bank.'_ "Fine, last thing we need is Mr. Black-Wells coming after us. Let's just go"

The two had just left the office when an idea occurred to Chloe. It was a bad one, as they often were but as illogical as it was, she wanted to do it.

"Mad-Max." She said, grabbing onto her friend. "I've got an idea!"

Max look at her somewhat apprehensively. "What?"

"Okay, so I've got some plans for us tonight, but we still have time, come with me." She said quickly.

Whether Max wanted to agree or not was irrelevant as Chloe tugged her along down the hall. She ignored the hushed questions Max shot her way, she knew that if she answered now then the girl would lecture her about just how _bad_ this idea was. She didn't say a word until they got close to the locker-rooms for the gym and pool.

"So Maxi-pad, boys or girls." She whispered.

The stunned look on her friends face almost made her laugh, she had made a habit of catching Max off-guard like this when they were younger, it was nice to see that some things don't change.

"Girls." Max eventually responded, not meeting her eye.

"Ooh la-la." Chloe teased as she led her into the girls changing rooms and grabbed a pair of towels from the clean-cupboards. "It's time for splish-splash girl!"

And with that she ran out into the poolside area. Even if max wanted to argue, she would have to come to her, it would be much harder for her to resist with the pool right there. Strangely enough, an argumentative Max was not what exited the changing rooms, the girl instead emerged pale, an uncomfortable frown on her face as she gazed around the pool as if seeing it for the first time.

"What's a matter Max, never seen the pool before?" She teased, shrugging out of her clothes until she was left in her underwear.

"No…I've never come in here before, all I know is the team is called the otters." Max said. Something was wrong.

"Why not? This place is the only good part of the school."

"I…" She began, gripping her elbow with her right hand, a nervous tick she developed at a young age. It was disturbing to see it on her now. "I don't swim."

Chloe frowned, something was definitely wrong. "Max, we learned to swim together. I know you can swim."

Max's jaw worked silently, she looked almost like a cornered animal. "I just…I don't want..."

Chloe waited a few seconds, but Max didn't elaborate. "Don't want what Max? If you really don't want to swim, we can go. I don't want to force you."

Max shook her head, struggling for the words. "I don't want you to see…me."

Chloe was speechless, she didn't understand what was going on. She knew Max was self-deprecating for whichever reason, but she didn't understand why. The girl had it going on.

"I'm looking at you right now Max and trust me, we may not be skinny dipping but it's still a nice vi-" She began but was cut off.

"You haven't seen me!" Max was backing up as if ready to run.

' _No! Chloe, don't fuck this up!'_ "Max." She said aloud in a soothing tone. "I wont _ever_ force you to do anything. But you can trust me, I won't think less of you for anything. I swear."

She waited for almost a minute before Max slowly reached up to remove her jacket, still not meeting her eye. The moment her friend's shoulders became visible, she felt her stomach sink deeper than ever.

' _Shit, Chloe you stupid, STUPID fucking idiot! Why don't you use your god-damned brain for fucking once?!'_

Under normal circumstances Chloe would be very interested in the tattoo the ran the length of her left arm, Max hadn't said a word about it and it obviously told a story. But circumstances were not normal. She was close enough to see that the ink of the tattoo covered up multiple scars along the arm but those were nothing compared to the other arm, burns covered the outer arm almost down to her elbow, and a large round puckered scar dominated the unburned section.

She wanted to speak up, to tell Max that she didn't need to do this, that she was an idiot and needed to mind her own fucking business, she wanted to hug her and make her pain all go away. She wanted to do a lot of things, but she was frozen there as Max continued to kick off her jeans.

The past wounds were not so obvious here, there were few scars aside from another set of those strange round ones. Her knees were the only other parts to bear marks and it was obvious that she had fallen _a lot_ during the past years.

She only managed one step towards her before Max stripped off her top leaving her in the same state of dress as Chloe, but infinitely more vulnerable. Her front had relatively few marks, some burns were visible on her left, but they were not as pronounced, the girl's flat stomach was otherwise untouched but as the girl turned away from her she felt her stomach follow suit.

She felt tears spring to her eyes as she looked at the twisted scarred flesh of her back, permanent welts ran across her back as if a whip had been taken to her. There were over half a dozen of them. For all her bluster, Rachel had been self-conscious about her scar given by Damon Merrick and had taken great pains to conceal it.

She could only imagine how Max felt about herself.

' _Don't you dare fuck this up!'_ Came her inner voice. Inner Chloe was a bitch, but she was right more often than not.

She almost leapt at Max in her rush to embrace the smaller girl. "Max, I am so, so sorry. I should never have opened by stupid mouth." She could feel Max tense like a coiled spring in her arms.

"God, I don't even know how hard this is for you." She was just blurting out whatever came to mind now. "But it means so much to _me_ that you trust me enough to show me and I'm not going anywhere, I'm with you forever."

She could feel Max start to relax and she knew she was doing something right. "I know you're not okay but that's alright, we'll get through this all together, I _promise_ you I'll always be here. We'll see everything we want to see and fill a whole new album with those photos."

She was so caught up in her rambling attempts to express herself that she only just saw Max looking up at her, her eyes were swimming with tears and her gaze was so piercing that for a moment she thought Max would kiss her. Then the moment passed, and Max buried her face into Chloe's shoulder as the two girls stood embraced.

The minutes passed, and Chloe lost count of them, she could care less about anything else in the world right then, she had Max in her arms and it felt so _right_. Eventually Max's shuddering breathing returned to normal.

"I'm sorry Chloe, I should-"

It was Chloe's turn to interrupt. "No Max, don't be sorry. Don't ever be sorry about that."

"It's just…How can I ever be normal when I can't even wear short sleeves without looking like a freak."

Chloe was not going to have ANY of that. "Don't ever say that Max. You survived what no one else could, each one of those is proof that they couldn't kill you, that they can't break you."

"They already did."

"Fuck that. You're here now and they aren't, you're the strongest person I've ever met, scars and all."

Max returned to her silence and the two continued the embrace as time passed by. Eventually Chloe decided that she needed to drag Max out of this dark spot, what better way than to splish-splash like old times?

"Hey Max." She whispered into her friend's ear. She felt the girl shiver a little.

"Hmm?" The girl questioned.

"There's an otter near my water…" She said, still whispering.

All she got was a confused noise.

"Duuuuuun dun." She started.

Max tried to push away,

"Duuuuun dun."

Max attempted to twist out of her arms.

"Duun dun. Duun dun"

It was no use, for all Max's strength, Chloe was bigger and her arms were already locked tight around the smaller girls waist. Max had no leverage with which fight.

"Duun dun, duun dun, dun dun." She continued, increasing the tempo as she shuffled back towards the pool.

"dun dun, DUN DUN, DAAAH!" She finished as she lifted Max from her feet, kicking and giggling and threw them both over the edge and into the warm water.

Max emerged from the water huffing and panting, her eyes fixed predatorily on Chloe. She had the feeling she may have bitten off more than she could chew but even as Max sprang towards her, Chloe felt better about today. As stressful as that last hour had been, she couldn't help but think it was a good thing for both of them.

And Chloe's plans for the night were not over yet.


	6. The Arcadian Storm

**A/N**

Well hello everyone, i'm finally getting an update out there. I'm finding precious little time and inspiration to write these days with my last semester kicking my ass but i'm not going let myself abandon it. I've found during my read throughs of this story that i've made some pretty stupid errors and i'll try to weed them out as i said last chapter, i've even found instances of me substituting peoples names in the story for my own family members...

But here it is, i've been dying to get so proper chaos into this little AU Arcadia bay and it's finally off to a start, i feel like there is only so much character arc that can happen unless there's a little chaos to drive it.

As always your comments are welcomed and much appreciated, you've already had a big impact on this story so far. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

 _ **Max**_

"So Captain, what's the plan?"

Max's voice went unanswered as she clambered into her friend's battered F-150, Chloe for her part seemed entirely unaware that Max had spoken and continued to stare absently ahead as she coaxed to truck to life. The bluenette obviously had something on her mind sitting there chewing on her lip as she was, and Max didn't have much of an idea as to what it was, her powers of deduction were somewhat lacking when it came to her punk friend.

Neither girl had showered after their brief, after-hours splish-splash in the school pool and a mere change in clothing was not enough to eliminate the odour of chlorine that Max knew would plague her for the foreseeable future, as would the dry skin and slightly burning eyes. She shuddered to think of what would happen if she took her hair out of it's braid. Chloe, she knew, would have no such problems with her shorter hair style and Max couldn't help but be a little jealous of that. Then again, Max had found herself envying a few things about her friend as they grew up, she used to wish she was as tall as her, as brave as her or as smart as her, she supposed it was normal to want to be more like the people you admire. Now, however, despite the years that had passed, she knew she was still a little jealous of her friend in some ways, Chloe's skin for example was perfect, and even now without makeup, she was so beautiful that Max found herself near captivated. Her friend could walk down the street without pitying or mocking glances, no one would stare at her and if they did, it would be in admiration and not in scorn.

Max shook her head to rid herself of the thought, Chloe deserved better from her, it wasn't her fault. Thankfully the punk princess was still staring ahead as she drove, Max wondered just how well

her friend could be paying attention to the road spaced out like she was.

"Captain, oh captain." She tried again.

Chloe startled a little. "Oh, sorry. What was that?"

"Distracted, are we? Maybe I should drive?" Max teased, shaking her head.

"That's a negatory there maxi-pad, no one drives my baby but me." Chloe responded with a mock glare. "Besides, you don't know where we're going."

"Which was what I was asking you."

"Ah-ah-ah." Chloe said, lifting one hand to waggle her pointer finger. "It's a surprise, you'll have to wait and see."

Max huffed, she didn't at all like surprises.

"Oh, don't give me that, you're gonna love it!" Chloe said cheerily, her eyes though were nervous.

"I'm interested to see what you could possibly be planning at midnight at…" Max paused to glance out the window and catching the faint reflection of light on water. "The beach? I think I'd rather head back to the pool."

Chloe laughed, the honest musical sound caused Max's stomach to clench uncomfortably.

"You won't be getting anything out of me…but I'll need your help carrying some things." The girl said once her laugh subsided.

'… _at midnight? What are you planning Chlo-bear…'_ She thought as her friend's attention turned back to the road. There was a mess of junk in the back of the truck, Max doubted much of it moved on anything less than a monthly basis, but she hadn't checked to see if Chloe had brought anything unusual with her.

"What's the occasion?" Max tried, trying to glean any information she could get.

"Why does there need to be an occasion?" Chloe replied cheekily.

Max raised a brow and levelled an unimpressed look at her unwitting friend. "You took me to your super-secret hide out, a late-night splish-splash and now you're whisking me off in the dead of the night on a mystery adventure. You're spoiling me"

Chloe spared her a quick glance, her face a curious mix of emotions. "I just want to do something nice, you've had a shitty…well, a shitty few years and I want to be there, ya know? Make things a little less shitty."

The admission left Max temporarily speechless, five years and despite everything, Chloe hasn't changed, still putting Max ahead of everything. She didn't think she deserved it, this level of dedication, even if she wanted more.

"I know you're there for me Chloe, you always have been." She eventually responded.

Chloe had the good grace to blush to which max smirked, the punk really was a softie. "Then let me have this one Maxi-pad, besides, we're here."

Max blinked as the bluenette pulled in to park, they were at end of the bay's beach and the foot of the lighthouse hill. Max turned to shoot her a questioning look, she couldn't see what Chloe was planning. She was so confused that she didn't notice that the girl leaving the truck.

"So when I said I'd need your help carrying stuff, I was serious!" Came Chloe's voice from behind the truck.

Shaking her head, Max made her way to the truck's bed where Chloe was unloading a collection of bags, none of them were particularly large but if they were going to climb the hill like she suspected then they would be a pain. She couldn't help but notice that one of the bags Chloe was handing her smelled amazing, a late-night picnic of sorts hadn't been high on her to-do list but it sure as hell was now.

"Well, I can tell this one is food, I can tell that much." She said as they began their hike.

Chloe mock glared at her. "Why can't you let me surprise you?"

"Can't let you come out on top here." Max teased.

Chloe blinked before a wide grin split her face. "Oh? But I'm sure you'd really enjoy me being on top."

Max almost tripped and she bowed her head to hide her blush, it happened every time Chloe pulled something like this no matter how Max tried, she may like it when her friend flirts with her, but she still had no idea what to do. She didn't notice Chloe's victorious smirk.

The walk itself was peaceful, neither girl breaking the silence, with no moon out they were forced to navigate their way up the track by phone light. The night itself was tranquil, no hint of breeze even as they climbed higher and almost unseasonably warm, soon enough the town would be caught in it's usual dreary winter-cycle of rain, rain and more rain but as if gifted by the gods themselves, they had one perfect night.

Chloe was huffing by the time they reached the top, Max supposed that her years of smoking daily had taken a toll on her, she herself felt uncomfortably out of breath as well, she would have to start running again, she'd been far too lax with her exercise. As her friend caught her breath, Max took the opportunity to appreciate the view, the bay looked stunning from this vantage point, the stars were out like she had never seen or at least, she had never taken the moment to see, and their light reflected perfectly off the almost unnaturally calm water of the bay.

She wondered if the sky was ever this beautiful in Europe, she had lived in so many places deemed to be 'must-see' tourist destinations famed for their natural beauty from the Greek isles to Swiss Alps, but she had never stopped to smell the proverbial roses, she had always been there with a single, bloody purpose in mind. How much had she missed? Or was it this beautiful because she was with Chloe once again? In the past weeks it seemed like her world was coming down around her and the sudden appearance of her old friend had made everything so much brighter despite the dark.

Whatever the reason, she really wished she had her camera as she stared into the night, it was almost as if this moment _wanted_ her to capture it, the lights from the town were few and dim enough that there would be little if any glow to pollute the shot, a long exposure setting could bring the stars out like the eye couldn't, hell, if she angled it right she could probably get the reflection of the starry sky on the water of the bay. It would be one for the books, that was for sure, even if it wasn't exactly the type of shot she needed for the every-day heroes contest.

A series of muttered curses caught her attention as the snapped her from her thoughts and she turned around. Any smart assed or teasing comment was forgotten as she stood there staring and her sheepish friend with her mouth hanging open to a near comical degree. Chloe stood a few feet away standing over an old picnic blanket atop of which sat a small bundle of additional blankets and the same wonderful smelling bags she had carried up there. But it was the objects in her hand that had her attention, the bluenette was in the tedious process of setting up a camera tripod, _her_ tripod if she wasn't mistaken.

"I would say this isn't what it looks like but…I don't even know what it looks like." Chloe deadpanned.

"I don't…what is all this Chloe?" She asked.

"Uhm. Surprise?" Chloe said with a nervous smile. "I thought we could chill, talk some shit, cram some food and take hella amazing photos."

Max couldn't help herself, her mouth split in what was possibly the widest smile she'd ever worn.

"Say something? Does the smile mean I did good?" Chloe tried again.

Max's leaping embrace was more tackle than hug.

* * *

 ** _Chloe_**

"So what you're saying is it makes the stars brighter?"

She watched as Max sighed for what had to be the umpteenth time that night, Chloe didn't consider herself a stupid person but despite her father's love of the art and her friendship with Max, her education in photography was sorely lacking and trying to explain the effect of long shutter photography was an exercise in futility.

"Yes Chloe, it makes the stars brighter." Max conceded.

"I see, I see." Chloe replied stroking a non-existent moustache with one hand and a joint in the other as she lay at Max's side on their picnic blanket. In her defence, she was pretty stoned right now and her brain was more in the mood for a deeper topic, maybe astrophysics or the nature of self? For now she was more than content to let Max decide the topic and run with it.

' _For once everything went exactly to plan'_ She thought to herself as she took another drag, there was no reason it shouldn't have with Max's love of photography, food and her wonderful presence…Probably in that order, but life had a way of shitting on her plans, no matter the odds.

"Just how did you manage to sneak _my_ camera and tripod up her without me noticing?" Max asked.

"I'm a ninja, it's what I do." Chloe replied.

Max just raised a brow, the scar that split the line of hair always made the act more unnerving then it should be.

"I slipped them into my bag when you were changing, it's the only time you weren't paying attention." Chloe admitted.

"Wow." Max stated. "You may actually have a future as a ninja."

"What do you- I mean, of course I do…." Chloe blustered before continuing. "Why?"

"In the last five years no one, not the police, not the cartel, was able to find out anything about me, they've looked me in the eye as I worked around them and the didn't suspect a thing. And in a few days, you've managed to find out the best time to get the drop on me."

"Hell yeah! The student becomes the master." Chloe crowed.

Max chuckled. "Humble you must be young Padawan. Kick your ass I might."

"No! not the Yoda impressions." Chloe cried as she snorted with laughter. "That needs to stay in the past."

Max scooted over to lean her head against Chloe's shoulder and she felt her face heat up. "A lot of the past isn't as dead as I thought."

"Thank you for this Chloe." Max continued after a few minutes passed.

"What, for this? No need Maximus."

Max lifted an arm to gesture at the night sky. "This here, right now? I feel like I'm living, not just surviving."

The statement struck a chord in Chloe, not just that this night out was having the exact effect she wanted, but it occurred to her just how little _living_ she herself had been doing, especially over the last six months, even before Rachel had disappeared things had been strained and she suspected Rachel had been keeping things from her.

A touch on her arm pulled her from her inner dialogue. "You okay there?" Max asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing about living." She replied. "I should try more of that as well."

Max's hand moved from her arm to grasp her hand. "After we find Rachel we'll do just that, go explore Seattle, road trip across the U.S, whatever we want."

Chloe squeezed Max's hand. "Sounds like a plan, me and Rachel were planning on blowing this joint and escaping to L.A anyway."

A shadow passed over Max's face as she finished speaking and Chloe felt like kicking herself, she had suspected Max was a little jealous of Rachel from the notes in her room and should have known better than to bring her up in that way.

"But hey, with my first mate back, this road trip will be the stuff of legends." Chloe said, attempting to repair any damage her previous statement may have caused.

"As long as we spend some time in Seattle, I'm down for anything." Max replied, her voice seeming to indicate that nothing was wrong, but Chloe knew how good she was at pretending.

"You must really miss them." She said and felt Max nodding against her shoulder.

"I wonder what would have happened if I went straight home, I wanted to be more…normal when they saw me again, but that plan went to shit in no time flat, I think I made things harder for myself by staying away." Max confided.

"You'll see them soon Max, and when we turn up on their door step we are going to blow their minds with our awesomeness." She stated with about twice the confidence she felt.

"You're right, and you'll get to meet my…" Max replied before trailing off. "…Damn it, gone already?"

"Wha?" Chloe questioned as the smaller girl shuffled around as if searching.

"The chips are all gone, and the waffles. Talk about muchies."

Chloe couldn't help but laugh, people were often surprised at her appetite, it was good to know that at least one other girl shared her propensity for eating.

"I got it from the two whales, I could go grab some more if you want?" She said.

"Oh no, you don't have to do that, I was just surprised." Max began before her rumbling stomach betrayed her.

Chloe's laugh became a near roar as Max turned her red face away from her. Quickly she got to her feet and dumped the extra blanket on her friend, her slightly clouded mind telling her that Max would need the warmth in her temporary absence.

"Don't worry your pretty little head lass, I'll go get us some more plunder, guard the ship well me hearty." She said in a terrible imitation of a pirate's rasp.

"Bring waffles!" She heard Max call out to her as she started down the path.

The climb down made her wonder if this was such a good idea, it was hard enough to walk the track by phone light let alone while stoned. She huffed to herself, the walk to the two whales and back should do a good job at clearing things up.

Luckily for her Arcadia bay was a small town and she wouldn't have to travel very long to reach the diner, she could walk down the beach path up to the docks and she would be a bare few minutes' walk away. The walk back would be a little more difficult with the food, she mentally berated herself for neglecting to bring a bag.

A curious sight greeted her as she arrived at the docks, all but one boat was dark and empty as she would expect for this time of the…morning, but that one boat was _very_ active, she could hear the hustle of men and machines onboard, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the men having to work such long hours, the poor guys were having it tough with the Prescotts expanding to take over the harbour. It was then that she noticed a familiar face pacing back and forth on the dock, it was Jethro, the same fisherman that sets up stall beside the two whales, sure enough a closer look at the boat revealed the words 'Bali Hai' proudly painted on the side.

"You better damn well be here soon, you know I can't just hold onto this shit." Chloe overheard the man growling into his phone. The man's tone surprised her, he was normally quite the kindly man, one of the few people around town that Chloe didn't hate on principle.

"I don't care if there was an accident, I wouldn't care if you were IN the accident, we have a strict timetable and we don't get to be late or screw shit up." The man continued. Chloe could hear the stress in the man's voice, he must be feeling the pressure now that he was in danger of losing his boat.

"Just…just hurry up, they're getting impatient and you know how they can get." The man concluded before hanging up. She briefly wondered who 'They' were to make him worried about them before the fisherman caught sight of her.

"Oh, Ms Price, what brings you out here at this time of night, you could have given me a heart attack appearing out the dark like that." He said, his face strangely nervous.

"Hey Jethro, just going to grab some food from the diner, you okay? Seemed like a stressful call." She replied.

"Oh yeah, a trucker friend was supposed to meet me here half hour ago but got held up a town over, just one more thing I need right now."

"I bet, like you need any more shit with what's been going on." Chloe said. Something wasn't right, Jethro looked nervous, almost worried and his attempts to appear calm wouldn't fool anyone.

"You're telling me, but hey, don't let my troubles keep you up, best you get your midnight snack soon." Jethro said with a forced smile, his eyes looked…pleading?

"Are you sure everything's okay? You're acting weird man." Chloe replied, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

The calm façade fell from his face and he grasped her arm tightly. "Chloe you need to leave, _now_. Please."

Footsteps interrupted his plea and a large bearded man emerged from the boat followed by a second, even larger man. Chloe felt her heart seize, the larger man was carrying a shotgun.

"Well, well. What have got here Jethro?" The bearded man drawled out, his southern accent even more pronounced than Joyces.

"Aint nothin Jack, just a friend on her way to grab something from the diner." Jethro responded, positioning himself between Chloe and the men.

Chloe's confusion at the statement must have shown on her face because 'Jack' gave Jethro a particularly cruel smirk. "We had ourselves a deal, no one sees us come or go, you said the docks would always be empty this time of night."

Chloe's pulse started pounding away, her previous high disappearing completely as adrenaline flowed into her system.

"They are, she just came over to say hi, you're gonna scare the girl." Jethro said with a glare. It wasn't very effective, even Chloe could see through it.

"I don't think you understand, no one can know about this little visit here." Jack said as he took a step forward.

Jethro took another step forward despite his obvious fear. "You're just gonna call attention to yourselves if you pull anything here Jack, let her go."

"Oh don't worry yourself my friend." The bearded man said calmly as he turned to look at Chloe. "We won't pull anything here, we'll just bring her for a little tour of our boat."

Chloe's face paled at the statement, and she could see Jethro's face do likewise. She thought about running right there but a large form emerging from the darkness behind her dissuaded her of that thought.

"If you…If you think I'm going to just let you take her Jack, you got another thing coming." Jethro said, his voice wavering

Jack turned to stare Jethro in the eye, his voice cold and unwavering. "Now as I recall it, our deal was that you meet us at sea, we load our product on your ship, you slip into this piss-hole of a town and palm the product off to your trucker friend. Am I right?"

Jethro didn't answer.

"As I see it, you need us far more than we need you. If we lose you then we find another desperate boat captain, a dime in a dozen around here. If you lose us, you lose everything from your boat to your home."

Jethro's pale face hardened but he still didn't answer.

"So from my point of view it's like this. You don't get to _let_ me do anything, you sit there like a good little boy and nod your head, or I'll take everything from you."

Jethro was quiet as the moments passed. Chloe couldn't stop herself from shaking, her brain demanded that she run, fight, do _something_ but she found herself paralysed in fright.

The fisherman's face hardened further, and his shoulders squared. "I heard stories of what happens to girls you get your hands on, and there aint no way in hell I'm gonna let you do the same to her.

Chloe saw Jethro's hand creeping to his waist.

Whatever the man was going to do was cut off as Jack's arm moved like lightning, reaching out to grab Jethro by his collar, the other hand coming up to ram a knife into his ribs.

Chloe screamed, or at least she tried to, the sound was cut off as a large meaty hand clamped down over her mouth, another thick arm encircling her waist and pulling her off her feet.

"Bring the good captain, would you? We'll give him a burial at sea, we're going to have to wait on this shipment." The bearded man said far too calmly to his other companion.

Struggle as she might, Chloe could find no way to break the man's hold on her, she tried to bite the hand over her face, but she couldn't get anything between her teeth, she tried to kick but the man's legs were like tree trunks, she couldn't do anything to help herself as she was manhandled onto the deck of the boat, the lackeys already prepping the ship to leave.

Then she found her opportunity, the mans hold on her face relaxed just enough to give her a range of movement, she took her chance and threw her head backwards, feeling an almost dazing blow as her head struck her captors face. The effect was immediate, the ground came up to meet her as the man released his hold, she had barely opened her mouth to scream before a vicious backhand knocked her to the ground, it was another second before she felt herself pulled to her feet, two crew-members holding her by the arms.

"Now, now. That aint no way to treat your hosts." Jack's cold voice said as he walked to stand in front of her.

"Fuck you, asshole." Chloe ground out through an aching jaw, tears of anger, pain and fear leaking from her eyes.

"You best be learning some respect there girl, you're worth money, but not that much."

' _Worth money?'_ Chloe thought to herself. The prospect of being sold terrified her, everything Max had spoken about, what she had been through flashed through her mind as she stared at the bearded man's ugly face.

No. She'd rather die than go through that.

The man gripping her right arm was smaller and even thinner than her, with an adrenaline fuelled tug she freed her arm and swung it with all her might. The blow struck the man's face with enough force to break her hand and nearly threw the man from his feet, were it not for the blinding pain, she would have been proud of herself. Jack did not take it well, with a roar he surged in close to deliver a wicked blow to her stomach and she felt her dinner fighting to come back up.

When she raised her head she found herself staring down the barrel of his revolver.

A single gunshot echoed through the night.

* * *

 _ **MAX**_

A single gunshot echoed through the night.

Max shot to her feet as the distinctive bang echoed around the bay, she'd know that sound anywhere. Quickly she made her way to the lookout, there was no more shots to be heard so it wasn't a fire-fight, it had to be…Max felt her blood run cold, the only person she knew in town crazy enough to shoot someone was Nathan…and Chloe was down there, by herself in the dead of the night.

Max didn't think it through, she just tore her gun from her bag and sprinted down the path trusting her eyes to guide her down the dark path. She could feel her heart pounding away and the acrid taste of fear in her mouth.

She was panting hard by the time she came within sight of the two whales and the small crowd gathered outside, only the fact they weren't gathered around any central point gave her hope that everything was okay.

"What's going on?" She demanded of the waitress, she was the same one to serve them that morning.

"We heard a loud bang, Drew over the said it was a gunshot so we called the police." She replied, taken aback by the intense look on Max's face.

"Where's Chloe, did she already leave?" Max continued.

The waitress gave her a sideways look, her eyes apprehensive. "I haven't seen Chloe since breakfast this morning with you."

Max felt her breath catch in her throat, this couldn't be happening.

"Should I call Joyce? Maybe she knows where she is." The waitress tried.

"No she was with me just half an hour or so ago." Max explained shortly. "Where did the sound come from?"

"Why would you-"

"Just fucking tell me!" Max snapped as she stepped close into her space.

"The docks! It sounded like it came from the docks."

She didn't wait any longer, her legs carried her towards the dock in a panicked frenzy. By the time she arrived on the docks she was a high-strung mess, every muscle was taut and ready for action, her eyes danced around the docks, peering into every shadow looking for anything that resembled a silhouette.

There was nothing. The place was empty.

Then she saw it. Faint red against the wooden boards of the dock, it wasn't enough for a gunshot wound but it was definitely blood, something had gone down here. Her experienced eyes flittered once more from shadow to shadow, from boat to boat but she couldn't see any signs of any sort of altercation. Then lights out in the bay caught her eye, it was far off and almost disappearing into the night, but they were there, it wasn't a stretch to imagine that boat being involved.

With some effort Max's mind reached out into the ether to brush against the fabric of time, as always they attempted to elude her, as if insulted that a mere mortal would dare seek to subvert a fundamental force of nature. She had abused the power too much in the last day, freezing time was always far more taxing than rewinding and often left her without the ability to rewind for hours or even days after, fortunately, despite the increased stress and pressure, her mind took hold of the strings of time and _pulled_.

The effect never ceased to unnerve her, it was such an unnatural action, the world seemed to grey out as if the world was suddenly on bad 50's film, her body turn ethereal and everything began to run in reverse. The burning sensation in her head continued to mount as she saw the boat make it's way back into port.

She could feel a nosebleed coming on as the boat arrived and was re-tethered to the dock and she let the rewind drop, not willing to waste any time she quickly scrambled up onto the bow of the ship and hid herself behind a large pallet of suspicious duck taped packages. With a deep breath she reached out again to rewind, ignoring the burn once again as she peeked around to observe the ships deck.

She counted seven people consisting mostly of unremarkable guys, the exceptions were two impressively large men, twins if their features were any indication, and a bearded man holding a large revolver pointed down at the only figure onboard that wasn't a man.

It was Chloe.

Even as time rewound around her, it seemed as if everything else ground to a halt as she stared at Chloe's motionless body. Her mind vacated itself of every thought and feeling as she stared down on the scene before her, not once in the past five years had she felt such a complete absence of sensation and it was all she could do to prevent her knees from buckling.

The story continued to unfold in reverse as the red faded from her friend's chest and the bullet returned to the barrel of the revolver from whence it came, Chloe returning to her feet where she began to thrash in the grips of the two larger men, her arm lashing out to strike the triggerman.

Max felt empty. They killed her. They killed her best friend, she saw it with her own eyes.

Then, with the force of a volcanic eruption, burning rage filled her, it's intensity causing her to tremble even as her grip on the flow of time loosened and the world snapped back to normal. She was still standing in the same spot; the supposed lookout's attention was solely occupied by the commotion on deck and he failed to notice the murderous teenager behind him. Max was no stranger to anger, four years of her life was consumed by it, focused into a blade that she used to cut the cancer that was Damjanac's cartel from the face of the world. It had fed her, sustained her all that time, but it had nothing on the burning wave of fury that was flooding through her system, had she the presence of mind, she would have been surprised she wasn't yet frothing at the mouth, she could feel the beast inside her raging and thrashing against the mental chains that bound it demanding release, she could almost see the metaphorical red creeping into her vision. She didn't fight it.

And with an almost physical pain, the chains broke, and the monster was free.

Silent steps carried her forward until she stood right behind the would-be sentry, he was still watching the commotion below on deck, it wouldn't be long until the gun came out and ended Chloe's life. Her arm flashed out with a feather touch and she freed the man's knife from its sheath, it was a scaling knife, which made sense as this had been at least as some point, a fishing boat. It would do nicely.

A piercing, high pitched scream tore through the night as she slammed the knife home below the man's navel, a messy wound that even under the best of circumstances was a near death sentence. A 'near death sentence' was not nearly sure enough and she tightened her grip on the blood slicked handle and tore the knife upwards in a vicious movement with a scream of her own. The man's cries turned to a choked gurgle as his innards pushed their way out to the deck below, the man following after.

On some level Max was aware of what she should do, she had done it a hundred times before. She should freeze the moment and note how many exits there are, how many enemies, she should note their positions, their weapons and every object that had the potential to turn the tide of a fight. It was the smart thing to do, a lesson she had learned the hard way. Fight smart or die stupid.

Unfortunately, logic and forethought were beyond her at that point and her feet carried her forward at a sprint, her mind brushing against the flow of time, pulling and releasing in little increments, stuttering the world around her as she moved on unaffected.

The next man barely registered her arrival before a flashing knife blade tore his throat open in a crimson spray, the other men though were faster on the uptake and sprang into action. The likely leader raised his revolver, one of the larger twins cocked his shotgun but the nearest man stepped into their line of fire to slash at Max with a machete.

Even her well-honed reflexes didn't completely save her as fiery pain flashed across her chest and the man attempted to behead her on the reverse stroke, his plans frustrated by the scaling knife being driven into his upper arm before she pulled him in close as a human shield, her hand reaching to her waist with practiced efficiency to draw her pistol. The appearance of the gun sent the men scrambling for cover and she only succeeded in grazing the hip of the bearded leader before her struggling shield managed to knock the gun from her, she responded by ripping the knife free from his arm and burying it up under his jaw.

And like a shadow she was gone again, making her way forward in a series of flashes to bear down on the shotgun wielding man. He was good, even with her time stutters he got off a shot that almost hit her before she arrived in front of him and grabbed the long barrel, she pulled on the gun to no avail, in hindsight she would admit it was a stupid thing to attempt and the man pulled the gun back with contemptuous ease before aligning it with her chest.

Time crawled backwards once more, and Max ignored the burning sensation in her skull as she reached out once more to grasp the barrel. This time she kicked out, her foot striking his arm and relinquishing him of his two-handed grip as her kick struck the sensitive nerves in the inner elbow. Pulling the shotgun from him was much easier this time and she spun the weapon around to align it with his head before pulling the trigger. The gun kicked in her grip, she had never used a shotgun before and its recoil was more than she anticipated, the man's head exploded in fountain of black and red, Max heard two distinct screams, one sounded like Chloe and the other…was right behind her.

Her life was saved as she ducked under a crowbar swing that would have otherwise brained her and she barely brought the shotgun up as a makeshift club in time to block the second strike from the furious twin brother, the strike smashed right through her attempted block, warping the barrel and crashing through against her left shoulder. Time rewound again as she grimaced in pain, she could still feel that blow even through the haze of adrenaline, this time the swing missed her by inches as she ducked low before she brought her fist up sharply into his groin.

The strike didn't have as much of an effect as she would have liked, and the man still lashed out with the crow bar in a strike that only barely missed. With precious few options left, Max did the last thing he expected, she leapt on him, legs wrapping around his waist. His surprise turned to desperate agony as Max bit down into his neck, putting every last ounce of force she could muster into her jaw, a foul coppery taste filling her mouth. The man flailed and struck at her repeatedly in a bid to force her way but couldn't get any leverage on her.

With a twist of her neck she tore her face free, a chunk of his neck still between her teeth as the man continued to strike ineffectually at her back before he slipped of the blood-soaked deck. Despite the missing flesh, the man showed little signs of weakening and was strong enough that even with her dominant position above him, he was able to begin forcing her off, at least until she drove her outstretched thumb like a dagger into the man's eye. The man panicked, his arms flailed again but it was even less use the time as Max snatched the crowbar from the deck and slammed it down, the hook punching deep into the man's skull.

Max's chest was heaving, the adrenaline was wearing thin and her head was feeling uncomfortably light, a sure sign that she has pushing the limits of her rewind… and that too much of the blood soaking her clothes was her own. Max's eyes flitted around the deck, five men were dead, she had counted six to begin with.

The loud crack of a gunshot was her only warning before a searing pain burned across her arm, a sharp pain in her head compounded it as she pulled on the strings of time. Her head was pounding dangerously by the time she regained her feet to face the last man standing, the word 'standing' being a generous description for the man as he stood slumped against a stack of crates, the revolver smoking in his shaking hands.

"I don't know what you are freak, but you're dead!" The man hissed.

For what would be the final time that night, time ground to a halt, the burning sensation that accompanied an attempt to stop time was now liquid fire running through her whole body and she could feel the trickles of blood running from her nose and ears. Her grip on time faltered as she got within striking distance and the man had a moment to register her new position before the crowbar came up into his wrist with a wet crunch and sending the gun flying. The man cried out and attempted to cradle his shattered wrist before a savage kick to his chest sent him crashing to the floor.

"What are you?" The man choked out as he attempted to shuffle backwards with his remaining functioning arm.

"What am I?" Max echoed, stalking towards him, the beast was raging, demanding blood.

She brought the crowbar down hard on his knee, a resounding crack could be heard even over the man's pained scream.

"I am the reason shit stains like you only ever do this while hiding in the night." She gritted out as she gave the broken limb a contemptuous kick.

She brought the bar down again on his other knee, the hooked head punching into his flesh deep enough that she had to tug repeatedly to free it

"I am the reason people are too afraid to take your money!" She said, the volume of her voice raising.

The man lay there writhing in agony, his remaining good limb raised as if to ward off any more attacks, a task in which it failed as Max brought the crow bar down in yet another viscous strike that left his forearm twisted at an odd angle.

"I am the storm and you. Are. NOTHING!" Max screamed as she slammed her bloodied weapon down on the crippled man's head, yanking it free and bringing it down again and again heedless of the blood and gore spattering her own face.

She felt her knees begin to weaken and quickly propped herself against the crate stack, her head was pounding even worse than before and she felt like she would pass out if she even _thought_ about rewinding. It took a few seconds, but the red haze began to dissipate leaving her feeling empty and disoriented, slowly she turned her head to where Chloe had fallen dreading the possibility that she had failed.

Chloe's bright blue eyes staring back relieved her of that fear, the girl lay where she had fallen at the beginning of the slaughter and didn't appear to have moved since, the lack of any red stains on her was such a relief that Max nearly collapsed right then, instead she took a stumbling step towards her friend.

Chloe flinched backwards.

Max flinched at the rejection. Of course Chloe didn't want to touch her, she had just slaughtered six men _and_ she had revealed her rewind in the worst way possible. She had finally lost it, she had let the monster out and nothing could be the same, the police would be crawling all over this place soon, even the federal government would get involved if those packages contained what she suspected they did. It was over, she'd have to leave, change her name and her look all over again.

As she gathered her dropped gun she wondered if it was even worth it.

"M-Max?" Came Chloe's quiet voice.

Max spun back to look at her, the motion almost causing her to fall, her friend looked terrified but seemingly not of her. "Yeah?"

"Are you…are you okay?" Chloe asked.

Max was momentarily stunned, her friend was kidnapped and nearly murdered, she watched Max butcher six men in cold blood and she asking if _she_ is okay?

"I… I don't feel too good." She admitted, she was rapidly running out of energy, she felt cold and she knew she needed to stich the cut on her chest as soon as possible.

"We need to go." Chloe stated, her voice strengthening. "Can you run?"

Max just stared at her confused, of all the things she expected, this was not it.

"Max?" Chloe questioned again, as she got to her feet.

"I-I think so." She replied, her head felt light and fuzzy, she could still feel the blood running from her nose and ears, and she wouldn't be surprised if something in her shoulder was broken with how bad it ached.

"Then come on." The bluenette said, grabbing her arm and moving towards the dock. "I don't know what the fuck just happened, but we can talk about it when we get out of here."

Everything felt surreal to Max as she let Chloe guide her up the dock, she was having trouble focusing and her thoughts took strange tangents without her permission. Was Chloe mad at her or was she happy with her? She couldn't tell, every time she tried to figure it out her mind would slide away from the subject as if it were covered in grease.

"Where are we going?" She asked, a thought occurring to her.

"The truck, we'll figure shit out from there." Chloe replied before jerking to a stop as Max refused to move any further. "What?"

"We should go that way." Max said, her words slurring slightly as she pointed to the shoreline leading up the beach. "The water will wipe away footprints."

Chloe blinked at her for a full second before nodding her head.

There were two dull thuds as the two girls jumped from the walkway to the wet sand below and in the darkness of the night, no one saw two girls fleeing down the beach.

* * *

 _Interview recording #1_

 _Dana Ward._

 _Juliet Watson: Thanks for this Dana, you know how much this could mean for me._

 _Dana Ward: No problem Jules, this whole episode with Kate has been a nightmare but someone has to get the story out there and it should be you._

 _JW: Agreed, the last thing we need is journalist that nobody knows pushing into Kate and Max's lives._

 _DW: So when does this officially start?_

 _JW: Well, now I guess, it's really just reference for me when I write the actual article._

 _DW: Ah, I see. Ask away then._

 _JW: Everyone seems to have a different take on the events leading up to this week but the one thing most can agree on is that is the entire academy, you and Max were the closest to Kate. What can you tell me about what happened before this week?_

 _DW: *sighs* To be perfectly honest, I feel responsible for it all, it was me that convinced Kate to give that party a chance and then I was too caught up in my own problems to notice how bad Kate had gotten._

 _JW: Nobody blames you Dana, least of all Kate I would think, she has to know you care._

 _DW: I know, but I was a shitty friend when she needed one the most and I have to live with that. I'm just glad that Max was there to talk her down._

 _JW: On that I think everyone will agree. When I spoke to Max earlier today, she seemed to believe that Kate was drugged at the party and that's why she did all those things, what do you think about that?_

 _DW: Shit i…it makes so much sense, Kate would never have done any of that, I thought she had to have been drunk but I didn't see her drinking pretty much the entire night._

 _JW: It makes sense now with all the information we have now, it wasn't so obvious before._

 _DW: And people were so mean to her, I tried to get the vortex club members to ease off, but Nathan and Victoria would never listen to me._

 _JW: At least you tried to do something, most people just stood by and watched…I was one of them and it makes me feel horrible._

 _DW: Guess we all fucked up right?_

 _JW: Yeah, it really was a good thing Max was there. Speaking of the girl, what can you tell me about Blackwell's hero?_

 _DW: Max? what do you want to know?_

 _JW: You and Kate are pretty much the only people around Blackwell that she talks to, I mean I guess Warren talks to her a lot, but she doesn't talk back if you know what I mean?_

 _DW: *Chuckles* Yeah, I know what you mean, I feel kinda bad for him honestly, I don't think she's into guys._

 _JW: What? Really?_

 _DW: *Laughs* Well I know she's never shown any interest in the guys at school. That and I couldn't help but notice Chloe Price and her sneaking around._

 _JW: Wait what! Chloe as in Rachel's punk friend? The girl that held the line for me in The Tempest years back?_

 _DW: The very same, she's been staying in Max's room for the last two nights actually._

 _JW: Holy shit. How did I not notice?_

 _DW: They don't have to pass by your room to get to hers._

 _JW: That makes sense. Still, I feel like I should have noticed something, gossip like that doesn't usually escape me. *laughs* What else?_

 _DW: About Max? Why so interested Jules? Trying to give Chloe some competition?_

 _JW: *Stammers* No! damn it Dana, don't do that! *Dana laughs* You are the only one that knows her, and people will want to know who she is now._

 _DW: Hmmm. Truth is, I don't really know much about Max, we're friendly but we don't hang out much, she's a really private person and doesn't share much about herself._

 _JW: Not even to you?_

 _DW: Sometimes she talks about places in Italy or Greece but never anything about herself, Kate sometimes mentioned a few things about her, she was the one closest to Max._

 _JW: Ah, all I know is that she didn't seem to like me all that much._

 _DW: You keep asking questions Jules, she probably doesn't like that. Probably doesn't even like being in the limelight about this whole situation._

 _JW: *Snorts* Oh I know that one for a fact. Oh, one thing, how the hell did she get up on that roof? I spoke with Hayden and he said that Max was in class when the word started to spread and that she jumped out the window._

 _DW: She's super-fast, sometimes it seems like she's just teleporting around the dorm, she's really good at staying under the radar as well. I'm just glad she made it in time._

 _JW: Me too Dana, me too…Anyway, that's probably all for now, I'm still working on the questions I want to ask other staff and students so is it okay if I run them by you best I interview people who aren't my best friend?_

 _DW: *Laughs* Of course Jules, you know I'll help you out._

 _*Door Opens*_

 _DW: See ya Jules, I gotta get some sleep tonight otherwise I'll be spending hours tomorrow covering up these bags._

 _*Door Closes*_

 _JW: Damn, does no one know that girl at all? Doubt Chloe will sit down for an interview._

 _Recording Ends._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I feel like pieces of Juliet's arc and subplot are better done in this format, i just can't figure out a better way to get bits of her investigation into the story without disrupting the flow. Let me know if this works for you guys :)**


	7. Fallout

**A/N:**

Well hello again everyone! *Dodges tomato*

It has been a little while but i have had a roller coaster of a semester and i'm so glad it's over. Taking an extra paper was not a good idea and studying while recovering from surgery was also an exercise in masochism. But here you go, it's just a little chapter but i will be updating more regularly now that i'm free from Uni. I will admit that taking a break had left me a little unsure of where things are going due to my bad habit of writing my thoughts down on paper and then forgetting where i left them, so if the next few chapters are on the short side then it will be because i'm taking some time to tie plot threads together before i actually post them.

As always, i appreciate you reading and really appreciate any feedback or critiquing that you may give, i'm trying to develop my writing skills to do justice to some personal ideas for stories i have so any advice is greatly appreciated :)

* * *

Her lungs were on fire. Chloe was sure of it, what else could possibly explain the burning pain in her chest or the raw sensation at the back of her throat? Not for the first time she cursed her addiction to cigarettes although she would give the one finger salute to anyone who dared tell her to quit, but still, she had to admit that they had a negative impact on her ability to do anything physical for any length of time and her current sprint down the dark shrouded beach definitely counted as physical activity… and boy was her body hating her for it.

But despite her body's imminent collapse she noticed that however bad a time she was having, Max was having a worse one. Her friend stumbled along beside her, barely keeping pace with Chloe's longer strides, her wheezing breaths and heavy, plodding footsteps were a sure sign that Chloe was not the only who was about to keel over…she was just the one without a good excuse.

Thankfully, the faint glint of starlight reflecting off a particularly beat up truck saved Chloe from the prospect of carrying her friend and she felt a fresh burst of energy push her up the dunes towards her 'baby'. Seconds passed as her shaking hands refused to co-operate with her attempts to unlock her car, her struggle as if by design, gave Max enough time to stagger to the truck and collapse into the passenger side a mere moment after the doors unlocked.

In short order the engine surged to life and the interior was bathed in dull giving her the first proper look at Max since the boat.

She did not look good at all.

Blood spattered almost every visible part of her face yet underneath it all Chloe could see her skin was abnormally pale. She almost flinched as Max's weary eyes rose to meet her own, one eye was so red it seem to be bleeding from inside, the other possessed a glazed quality which indicated that she was struggling to remain conscious, neither eye alarmed her as much as the blood slowly running from her friend's nose and ears.

"Holy fucking shit Max, we need to get you to the hospital."

Max's face clouded over with a scowl at the statement, the emotion at least seemed to make her more alert as she responded. "No. No hospital, what do you think is going to happen if I turn up there like this? Even the most galactically stupid nurse is going to put two and two together once word gets out."

The logic was sound but logical thinking was far down the list of Chloe's priorities. "Are you fucking serious? You're hella bleeding from everywhere Max, you need help!"

"It's not all mine." Max said almost petulantly as she glanced down to her own red stained arms.

"I know it's not all yours! I saw it, I was there!" Chloe near shouted before forcefully reigning herself in. "There's no way we can smuggle you into your dorm or my room like that, where else could we even go?"

"I have a place."

"You…have a place?" Chloe repeated slowly. "Of course you do. Where exactly is this 'place'"

"Do you remember the old Blockbuster? Just follow Jackson avenue up once you get there." Max replied wearily as she leaned against her window.

Chloe nodded as she reversed out far quicker than was safe before her eyes narrowed. "That whole area is just warehouses and storage sheds now."

"I know." Came a tired reply. "Just trust me okay?"

There was no way in hell that would be the end of her questions, now that they weren't fleeing for their lives down the beach her mind was relentlessly going over what happened on the boat or more accurately, trying to make sense of what she had seen. She wasn't having much success. The more she thought about it, the less sense everything seemed to make, one minute she was on her knees staring down the barrel of a gun, sick with the realisation that she was going to die, the next minute she was half lying on the deck as Max… _moved…_ there was no term that fully described the way her friend tore into those men with animalistic rage. She didn't just kill them, she destroyed them. Chloe didn't know what to think of that, her mind was caught in a loop trying to process it all. She had the sneaking suspicion that when it finally did catch up to her, it would hit her like a wrecking ball.

She snuck another peek at her friend as she drove, Max's eyes were closed as she seemed to doze against her window, Chloe had to grimace as she saw the red smudges on the window briefly illuminated by the passing street lights, the whole passenger side was going to be a mess, she could only hope that it didn't soak through her seat covers, the last thing she needed was David noticing blood stains on her seats.

"Max?" She eventually began. "You there?"

"Hrrm?" Came a tired grunt in reply.

"You gotta explain to me what happened there, it's starting to make my head hurt."

"Next left."

"Huh?" Chloe questioned.

"Take the next left here, Unit 13 near the end."

"Okay…that's not an answer though."

Max was silent as the seconds passed. "It's…complicated. Can I try explaining it when I'm not bleeding out?"

Chloe was struck with a moment of guilt and she nodded in agreement, as fucked up as everything was, she was only alive because of Max. It was less than a minute later that she pulled up in front of a small factory unit sporting a faded "13" painted on the roller door. She turned and grabbed Max by the arm before she could leave the truck.

"Max, i-" She began before realizing she had not idea how to phrase her thoughts. "I don't want to seem like an ungrateful bitch so…Thanks? I would have been hella dead if it wasn't for you."

Strangely, a painful grimace passed over Max's face as Chloe finished speaking. She didn't have time to ask why before the brunette left the truck to punch in the code for the door.

"You don't have to thank me, you're one of the only things I have left in the world." She said before she shuffled inside leaving Chloe floundering in the dark.

She was nearly blinded as she stepped inside, and it was an uncomfortable wait until her eyes adjusted to the light. The first thing she noticed was the slightly beat up minivan taking up the lions share of space leaving her slightly confused as to why Max had two cars in a town where she didn't really even need one. The rest of the space was occupied by various bits of paraphernalia, canned food lined some shelves, a few boxes and plastic cases were stacked against walls and a couple of large plastic bags leaned against the van. She snorted to herself, she had half expected an armoury and a tank.

She found max sitting in a folding chair in front of the van and almost yelped in surprise, her friend was stripped nude from the waist up, her blood-soaked clothes already tucked into a garbage bag. The brunette peered at her reflection in the mirror before her as she dabbed at the wound that stretched from just above her left armpit to the centre of her chest, the girl hissed each time her brown soaked gauze touched the cut. Chloe had to force herself not to stare, cursing hormones all the while.

"You uh…don't need any help, right?" She asked hesitantly.

Max let out a soft chuckle. "No, I'm alright. I won't inflict this job on you."

Max was probably misunderstanding the reason for her hesitancy, but Chloe wasn't about to correct her. Better to be thought squeamish than a perv.

"Sooo… what's with the van?" She asked after a few more seconds of watching her friend dab at her chest.

"Emergency escape plan one." Came the flat reply.

"Emergency…One?" Chloe asked incredulously.

Max nodded as she set aside her swab and picked up a long, curved needle. "One of four. Well, five if you count running like hell into the forest as an actual plan."

"You have five escape plans?"

"Yep. No plan survives first contact, best way to get around that is to have plan b's, c's and so on." Max continued as she cleaned the needle in what smelled like alcohol.

"But why here in arcadia?"

"Always have an out, if there was ever a first rule, that's it. Besides, it's habit by now."

Another few moments passed before Chloe spoke. "Seems like a hard way to live. Always being ready to run."

"It was about surviving but yes, it is." Max admitted before she pushed the needle through with a hiss. "Contrary to what you saw, I didn't survive the past years by running in like an idiot and getting myself cut up, I learned my lesson the first time." She said nodding towards her scarred right shoulder.

Chloe regarded the healed burns with a grimace. "What happened?"

Max sighed. "Another time, the point is, planning and staying calm is smart, what i did tonight? That was stupid, pulling shit like that would have killed me."

A nagging question pecked at Chloe's mind, demanding release. "What you said to that last man with the beard, what did you mean 'I am the storm'?"

Max was silent for almost a minute as she continued the torturous process of stitching her chest closed. "What did you see on the boat?" She eventually asked.

It was not a memory Chloe was comfortable reliving, but the events of the night came flashing back regardless. _The barrel of a gun, an unholy scream, Max seeming to pop in and out of existence as she tore into her victims like a demon, the screams of dying men, the roar of gunfire, blood…so much blood._

"You…you did something…" She tried, her voice shaky. "It's like you were too fast to see sometimes and you knew what they were going to do."

Max nodded slightly as she listened before setting down the needle. "Five odd years ago I was sold to a brothel of sorts in near the border of Croatia and Serbia, I think I told you the other night. I tried to fight back every day but by the time a few months had passed I just wanted it all to end."

Her mouth worked silently for a few moments before she continued. "Long story short, a man came in like any other day and fought back harder than I ever had. It didn't really make a difference, he was so much stronger than I was, and he started hitting me. I just wanted him to stop and…he did."

Chloe's brows creased in an uncomprehending frown.

"In fact, everything stopped." Max continued. "And when I _pushed_ , everything went backwards like I pushed rewind on the world's VCR. When I escaped after the storm I didn't want to run home, I wanted to find every person that ever hurt me, everyone who was ever connected to that place…and I wanted to break them like they broke us. There was nothing that could stop me, Time was my _Bitch_."

She picked the needle back up and started on the final few stitches. "When I said, 'I am the storm', I meant exactly that. There was never a group of vigilantes or terrorists…There was just me, a pissed off little girl, every inch the monster they made me. That's what you saw on the boat, the result of me bending time, I knew what was going to happen because to me it already had."

Chloe stood in stunned silence, her mind refusing to believe what was being said, time travel, powers? They were movie level things, there was no way it could be real.

Her disbelief must have shown on her face because Max sighed to herself as she tied off the stitches and set the equipment down, she turned and looked Chloe in the eyes, the stare becoming uncomfortable as the seconds passed silently. Eventually Chloe blinked and jerked back in shock.

Max was gone.

There was a pained 'oof' from her left and she turned to see Max sitting on one of the larger plastic bags, a pained look on her face.

"Holy shit." Chloe stuttered out.

"Uhhhg, that was stupid." Max moaned.

"Stupid? Max that was fucking awesome! You're an actual, honest to god super hero!" She gushed. "That's how you saved me, freezing time to get down to me…" She trailed off as Max shook her head.

"I didn't."

"I…don't understand." She said, something was wrong.

"I didn't make it in time…you were dead when I got there. I watched the guy with the beard shoot you."

Chloe felt the air leave her as if she had been struck. The haunted look on her friend's face said more than her words could.

"Max..."

"I've never been so angry, not even when this all started, I wasn't even sure I rewound far enough to save you, I wanted to kill them all."

"Max." She tried again.

"Why is this happening? Why do I have to lose everything again and again?"

Chloe ended her rant by wrapping her in a hug tight enough that even she had trouble breathing, she felt time pass by as her friend broke down into sobs, heedless of the blood she was smearing on her own clothes, she just kept her arms tight and rubbed her back in what she hoped was a soothing manner.

Thankfully, Max didn't cry herself to sleep or pass out, as much as the girl needed sleep she didn't think it would be a good idea to let her do so without a shower. Instead the shorter girl reached up and attempted to wipe away what was undoubtably blood from Chloe's face, the embarrassed look on her face indicated that she was not at all successful.

"Uhm, you might want to shower, there's one through that door." She said in a small voice.

" _I_ need to shower?" Chloe said as she looked Max up and down pointedly.

"I still need to put my stuff away, besides, you won't want to use that shower after I'm done. It's going to need bleach…and fire."

That prompted a chuckle from her, even if it felt forced. Conceding the point, she moved over into the small room that served as the bathroom. Even as she undressed and brought the water to an acceptable temperature, she couldn't control the tide of memories that crashed down on her. She opted to turn the water even hotter in hope that it would calm her mind as much as it relaxed her muscles.

It seemed to work for a while, but soon she found her mind wandering dangerously as she pressed her head against the wall and let the near scalding water run down her back. She looked down and could have sworn the water was blood red and she clenched her eyes shut.

 _Strong arms held her steady as she was forcibly moved onto the boat._

 _The rancid breath of the bearded man 'Jack' as he leaned in menacingly, "You're worth money, but not that much"._

 _The stinging pain as his fist cracked against her cheek._

 _The barrel of a revolver so close she could see the round in the chamber._

With a start she opened her eyes to see completely clear water pooling slightly at her feet and she sighed shakily in relief, she reached up a hand to grab the soap bar only to knock it to the ground with trembling hands. Both of her hands began to shake uncontrollably.

 _A dangerous glint in his eye, a cold note in his voice, "You sit there like a good little boy"._

 _A flash of steel in the moonlight, a pained grunt. The light leaving Jethro's eyes._

A sob broke through her weakening attempt at control. Hot tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Her walls crumbled in as she rested her head against the wall once more and let it all pour out.

* * *

There was something going on at the docking yard. You didn't have to be a detective to figure it out, there were enough police vehicles parked in the distance to accommodate the entire bay precinct. Whatever it was, the whole town would undoubtedly know about it with the space of a few hours.

David huffed to himself, part of him was chomping at the bit to head over and investigate, the rest of him was very aware that he was not an officer here and no matter his history, they were not going to let him just waltz on into an active crime scene. Besides, he was here for a reason, Joyce had an early shift this morning which left him to organize breakfast for himself, years of his wife's cooking had spoiled him and there was no way he was going to settle for his own mediocre skills.

The aroma of fresh diner food struck him as he entered and he could feel his mouth begin to water, Joyce noticed him and shot him a smile that told him she'd be with him shortly, David briefly wondered how she managed to keep up with the crowd that seemed to perpetually fill the diner no matter the hour.

His attention was captured by a blue uniform as Officer Jeffords finished speaking with another one of the two whale's waitresses. He only caught the tail end of their conversation.

"No, you don't have to worry. Whatever happened there is no longer a danger." The dark-skinned officer said comfortingly.

"I'm sorry officer, it's just that hearing gunshots so close has really got me on edge." The young woman replied.

That surprised David, gunshots here in Arcadia bay? In the years he has lived here the only report of gun violence was against Nathan Prescott earlier in the week. He felt his gut clench uncomfortably as he remembered the sheer vitriol with which Maxine had spat during that meeting, that girl had a tongue like a razor blade.

"It's fine, if you remember anything else don't hesitate to give us a call okay? You've been a big help."

The officer turned and almost walked directly into David before he stopped, blinking like an owl.

"Are you okay there Terry?" David asked, Terry was one of the few friends he had made in his time in the town.

"Oh, I'm fine, just a little surprised is all. I was going to give you a call once I finished up here actually."

David frowned in confusion. "Okay, what did you need? And where's Berry?"

The officer just sighed. "Berry's down at the docks now with most of the crew, we're stretched thin right now, can I speak to you outside for a second?"

David groaned internally before shooting a small frown at Joyce who nodded sympathetically, they both doubted he would be back for breakfast anytime soon.

"So what's going on?" David asked as the emerged into the parking lot.

Terry ran a hand over his bald head. "It's a damn nightmare down there David, and the reality is that we're not equipped to handle it, we are doing our best until the Fed's turn up but until then we can't make heads or tails of what happened."

David blinked in surprise, if the Fed's were turning up this fast then the situation was a lot worse than he had thought.

"I've been asked to bring you on as a consultant if you're willing, considering your experience as a MP."

"That bad is it?" David eventually replied.

"You don't know the half of it. Murder is almost unheard of here and…well, it's better if you see it first-hand."

"Alright, I'm in. I have the late shift at Blackwell anyway."

Less than ten minutes later David found himself on the verge of regretting his decision as he stood on the pier as officers bustled about. He had yet to even arrive at the crime scene and yet he found himself near paralysed as the overpowering scent of death wafted over him. Blood and shit, his commander used to describe it and David couldn't disagree, it was a smell he was well acquainted with. With an angry grunt he forced those bloody memories down, he was in control of his mind and he would _stay_ in control.

"Mary mother of god…" He breathed as the boat deck moved into sight.

He had hoped that Terry was exaggerating or at least, he was over playing the event because of lack of experience. No, if anything he had underplayed it. David had seen more than his fair share of death in his service before his time as military police but he had never seen anything like this, the scene before him was not the result of dispassionate bombings or firefights, this was deliberately done in close quarters.

"We've had to cycle people around, greenhorns kept getting sick." Terry said as he came up behind him. "Can't blame them, only reason I haven't joined them is because I haven't had breakfast."

David nodded as he took in the scene before him, lights flashing as a group of officers hurried to document every bit of evidence. "What do you have so far?" he asked.

"Well we're fairly certain that he was the first to go." Terry began motioning towards a large figure laying face-down.

David grimaced, he was fairly certain that it was the man's own intestines he could see poking out from under him.

"Disembowelled before he fell from the raised bow section. He's the only one who shows no sign of a struggle."

David followed as Terry moved onto the deck of the ship, both careful to avoid standing in pools of 'evidence'.

"From here on we have no solid idea of what happened, but I think this one here was the next on the block." He continued indicating a tall, lanky corpse. "Throat cut, .38 revolver in hand."

"This one here put up a fight." He said indicating the next body, a knife hilt jutting from underneath his jaw. "stab wound in his right bicep and of course, the knife in his head. We assume the machete there was his."

David peered down at the weapon, there was blood on the blade.

"Do you think he managed to get his attacker with that?" He asked.

"Hope so, we got samples on the way to the lab." Terry replied as he moved over to a large set of bodies. "These two could be brothers, both African-American, both pushing six and a half feet, that one there got the wrong end of the shotgun." He said, indicating the near headless corpse and the nearby warped-barrel shotgun.

David blanched.

"This one," He continued. "Didn't go down without a fight. Someone bit a chunk out of his neck, gouged out an eye before beating his head in with the same crowbar used to kill the last guy."

David didn't think he could be surprised anymore than he already was, but it seemed the day was determined to prove him wrong. The last man lay face-up on the deck, what was left of his face seemed frozen in the act of screaming, each limb was broken and twisted and almost everything above his brow had been caved in.

"This is the only one we have a positive ID for." Terry said, glaring down at the body. "Jack Mcloud. Pretty high on the FBI and DEA's shit list, wanted for trafficking drugs, weapons and people."

David looked around at the crates dotting the deck. "So all these crates?"

"Cocaine." Terry confirmed.

"Here? Why?"

"We don't have enough people in this town for all these drugs, we assume they planned to store them somewhere or palm it off to a passing truck."

"I don't suppose you have any leads there?" David asked.

"Trucks pass through here multiple times a day, no way to tell." Terry confirmed with a frown.

David glanced over the deck once more. "Whose boat is this?"

Terry's face shrouded over. "That's an easy one unfortunately, belonged to Jethro Paige, one of Arcadia's own, found his body down below."

David sighed into his hand, Jethro had been one of the most common faces in the two whales since he came to the bay. "So, no leads at all then?"

"There was one thing, strange as it was." Terry said pointing to the large bloodied section of the deck. "There's one print in the blood that doesn't make any sense, too small to belong to anyone here. A woman's size 6 to be exact."

David frowned. "Do you think it was a witness?"

"To be honest we don't know, Mcloud was known for trafficking people, could be one of them was here and escaped, but we've had no sign of an unknown woman hiding about town."

A sudden thought occurred to David, an unlikely one but it bared investigating. Hopping from body to body, he made his way to the second of the bodies and bent down to examine the clean cut across his throat.

"Terry, come have a look at this." He called, making room for the larger cop to see the wound. "See the cut here?"

Terry nodded, obviously uncomfortable with being as close as he was.

"It's angled upwards the entire length of the cut."

"What does that mean?" Terry asked as he leaned in to confirm the observation.

"It means that whoever did this was most likely short enough to have to reach up to do so. About the height you would expect the mystery woman to be." David said, his mind already buzzing as it worked to connect any other possible threads.

"Could be that someone had him held from behind and cut upwards?" Terry countered.

"Possible, but the cut is shallow. Usually cutting from that position gets deep enough to mark the spine."

"Shit." Terry breathed. "How often have you seen this sort of thing."

"Too many times, there were good people in Afghanistan and Iraq that worked with us, too many of them were murdered like this for doing so." David said quietly.

"Sorry, shouldn't have brought it up. Notice anything else?"

"Yeah." David mumbled as he stood and began to walk back to the pier. "If the woman stood in the blood then she must have left prints."

"She did, there are partial prints leading halfway up the pier, but we are waiting on ultra violet equipment before we can follow them any further than that."

David hummed in acknowledgement as he walked up the pier following the small yellow cones marking each print. "These are still quite defined, there's no reason for it to stop here."

"You're right." Terry agreed, scribbling down on his notepad. "Maybe she noticed and took off her shoes?"

David narrowed his eyes in concentration as he looked around the wide pier down to the small waves rolling below. "This pier, it's what? Eight, nine-foot drop to the water below?"

"You think they jumped?" Terry asked.

"Tide would have been out, no moon so it would have been out even further. Running along the tide line would have covered any tracks."

"Okay, we can search up the beach front for any clues." Terry said as he continued to jot down notes.

"She probably injured." David postulated. "Every second print has significantly shorter spacing, she was limping."

For the first time in years, David felt in the zone. The almost constant itching in his head receded into nothing as his mind formed and dismissed theories, he hadn't felt so good since the early days of his deployment, he felt… _in control_. As he stared down the beach he almost smiled.

* * *

 _Interview recording #2_

 _Subject: Warren Graham._

 _Juliet Watson: Thank you for coming for this interview Warren._

 _Warren Graham: *Chuckles* It's fine, I've never been interviewed before!_

 _JW: So, obviously I'm trying to get a feel for the student body's feelings about the latest events here at Blackwell._

 _WG: Soooo… Kate's attempted suicide?_

 _JW: Well, yes. That's the main thing but I would also like to hear about the days and weeks leading up to it._

 _WG: I don't really know what to say, people have been making fun of Kate since the semester began. She always shrugged it off until the vortex party._

 _JW: Were you at the party?_

 _WG: *Scoffs* Do I look like the type? I mean, I might go to the big ones or if they have a fancy dress one but I'm not exactly in with the club you know?_

 _JW: Everyone's invited to the vortex parties._

 _WG: I mean, you say that but…some of the members are not exactly the 'welcoming' type…No offense._

 _JW: No, your fine. I've had to think a lot more about my role in things lately._

 _WG: I think we all do, even if it's to pay more attention._

 _JW: Were you and Kate close?_

 _WG: Yeah, we would hang out quite a bit, me, her and Max._

 _JW: What was Kate like before this week? Few people seem to have known her that well._

 _WG: She was cool, I mean, not 'Cool' in the Vortex sense but I don't really care much for that….heh, no offense again._

 _JW: You're fine._

 _WG: Well, she really liked to draw, she wanted to do kid's books and things like that. She was always good at coming up with little stories for her drawings too. I think she based most of them off bible stories._

 _JW: I remember her holding bible study groups, so It seems likely, did you ever go?_

 _WG: Oh no, I'm not really interested in religion personally, she invited me but she never pressured anyone to go. I think Max and Daniel were the only regular people to go and I get the feeling that Max went there just to growl at anyone who teased her._

 _JW: I'm hearing a bit of a pattern, Max was quite protective of Kate?_

 _WG: *Laughs* That's an understatement. Max is really cool, but she can be super scary when she's angry._

 _JW: And what about Blackwell's hero? You seem to know her well._

 _WG: Well yeah! We hang out all the time, she's into a lot of the same movies so I leant her my collection for a while._

 _JW: Does she talk about home much? She's never spoken to me about her time before coming to school here._

 _WG: *Hums* No, she doesn't talk about Italy very much, she's mentioned going to the Vatican when Kate was talking about her church. Said she had a good 'talk' with one of the priests there…whatever that means, she's not really the religious type._

JW: So nothing about Padova?

WG: What's a Padova?

JW: I'll take that as a no…It's the city she's from.

WG: Oh, then no. I only know that she's been all over Europe and she can speak like 6 languages.

JW: That's…impressive. I didn't know that.

WG: *Laughs* I only know because she said she doesn't need subtitles for some of the foreign movies I gave her.

JW: I see. Back to the subject, there's been a lot of discussion about the role the student body had in pushing Kate so far, what's your opinion?

WG: People Liked to pick on Kate, she was different, and she never fought back. If people here weren't such jerks, then none of this would have ever happened. I mean, I didn't watch the video but even I could have been a better friend and done something about it.

JW: Then you would say that this school needs to address a large bullying problem?

WG: Of course, it's not like nobody see's it, kids get bullied all over the place. Daniel gets thrown in lockers, the jock-straps try to throw their ball and knock Stella's drone out of the air, it's everywhere.

JW: Would you say that Principal Wells has done a good job of addressing bullying when it is reported?

WG: *Snorts* You say that like it's a possibility. The fact Nathan gets away with what he does is proof that he doesn't.

JW: What do you think can be done to help address the problem?

WG: I…I don't know. There's a huge power differential at this school, if you have rich parents then the school goes easy on you. Maybe we just need more people like Max.

JW: In what way?

WG: She's the only one who does anything when she sees it, even if it is to give it right back to them.

JW: Okay, well I think that's about it for now. Thank you so much for doing this.

WG: It's no problem. It'll be cool to be in an article.

JW: Hey, do you have Max's Facebook? I've been trying to find her.

WG: Oh, she doesn't have one.

JW: She doesn't have one? No Insta or anything?

WG: No, I tried to find her after we first met but I couldn't find anything. She said she never used it so she deleted it.

JW: Okay. It just seems a little weird.

WG: Yeah *Laughs* I thought so too. I get the feeling she doesn't like people looking her up sometimes.

JW: Ah, well thanks again!

WG: See ya around.

*Door closes*

JW: What are you hiding Max?

* * *

 **A/N again...**

On a side note, in reviewing my past chapters, i feel like i have developed a trend of ignoring the strengths of Chloe's personality in favor of my AU Max, i feel like i can do a better job with her than i have been doing, especially since it is my intention to bring David, Jefferson and Prescock Senior into the story as larger roles. it would not do to have all these new characters when i can barely get Chloe right.

That and i really need to fix the grotesque errors in my past chapters and sincerely apologize for them.


End file.
